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Today, we're diving into one of my all

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time favorite topics. Service

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providers and coaches are often

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put into the same bucket. Only

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these two different titles couldn't

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be more different. What

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a done for you service provider needs

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in terms of branding and marketing

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are so very different from what a coach

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needs in terms of branding and marketing.

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And often these two are lumped together,

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so service providers are using tactics

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that are not suited for their

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business. We're going to

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jump into this topic today, talk

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about it in all different ways, shapes

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and forms, and really start

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to separate why these two are so

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different. By the end of

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the episode, you'll understand

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that when you start seeing these tactics

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that are really focused around coaches

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so that you can separate yourself out

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from that and realize that that's probably

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not the best advice for you. How

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did you learn to be a business owner? When

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I started my business, I had absolutely

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no idea what went into running

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a small service-based business. I

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went to school to study software engineering

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with the intention of someday becoming

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a project manager for a software company.

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While I didn't really know exactly what

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path I wanted my career to take. I

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knew I wanted it to involve working in

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software or web design. I'm

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really good with computers. So I felt like it was the

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logical path. I'd taken a few

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business courses, but they were all focused

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around management. For example, how

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to be a good manager, how to handle a team,

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how to handle projects, project schedules,

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and all sorts of other topics. Based

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on the goal of working in a corporate space. After

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I graduated with my master's in software

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engineering, I ended up getting a great

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job with a large corporation. I

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was fascinated by the products

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and services the company offered. And

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I was a really happy there at

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the end of my four years with that company.

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However, it was pretty clear that if I wanted

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to move ahead in a management role, I

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needed some outside experience. So

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I left that position for one at

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a much smaller company. It

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was a very busy time in my life. As

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I had started a family, while all of this

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was going on, I found out

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the hard way that if you don't have strong

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sales and marketing and a small business, that

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small business simply cannot survive.

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So I was laid off and the company

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ended up going under shortly after. It

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was a really unfortunate since it was so great

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company and the software, they were developing,

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had the potential to change. So,

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I didn't know what to do next. I

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knew that I needed flexibility and

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even after a month or so of job searching,

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I hadn't found anything that made

3:26

me super passionate and going

3:28

back to corporate didn't

3:30

hold the same appeal that it used

3:32

to. So

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what did I decide? I decided

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I was going to start my own business.

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I had always loved web design and

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I had that background since it's

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what I had originally planned on doing

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with my life. I

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have always been designing websites

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for friends and family with small businesses.

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Reviewing websites was a passion

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of mine, so I thought I can do

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this so much better than all

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these other people out there who were doing it.

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If they can do it, why can't I?

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I started my own business with little

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to no idea of what I was doing. I

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knew I'd figured out that I had no money in

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the bank had been laid off unexpectedly

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and I had a small child at home.

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And let me tell you they are real

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money pits. My first

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thought was how hard could it be?

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Well, anyone that's just jumped

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off the deep end knows that starting your own

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business is extremely challenging

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and it's extremely difficult.

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So what did I do? I hired

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coaches. I hired a business coach,

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a sales coach, a messaging coach.

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Heck I even hired two sales

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coaches. For many

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of these coaches I've read all of their content,

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watched every video and enrolled in every

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course. I even hired people for

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a team because I needed more

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time to learn from these coaches.

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I picked up bits and pieces along

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the way and was eventually able

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to gain a full understanding of what my next

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steps were. Finally,

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I joined a program about six months ago

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that ended up seriously changing my business

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and it stopped the endless cycle.

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I had found myself in with hiring

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all these different people. The

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thing about all the courses I bought, the

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books I purchased, the coaches I hired is

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that when I initially found them, they were

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geared towards coaches, service providers

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and consultants. This tends

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to be a group that gets lumped in together.

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What I've learned indirectly through

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this new program is that I'm

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primarily a service provider and I provide

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a done for you service to each of my

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clients. I am not

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a coach. When I began

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hiring coaches, I was hiring coaches who

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primarily worked with other coaches since

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they're the ones who were promoting themselves

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the loudest on social media. They

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said they worked with service providers and

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consultants as well. But what

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they were teaching was mainly geared

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towards coaches. In

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fact, I myself have lumped those people

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together in the past. However,

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when it comes to being a done for you service provider

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who provides a certain level of service

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versus a coach, these are two

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completely different business models.

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So let's break that down a bit. A

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coach will typically spend a lot of

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time creating resources, such

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as extra videos, workbooks,

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worksheets, checklists, all sorts

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of other content. These

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things usually take a long time to create.

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So coaches will typically put in an

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extreme amount of effort at the

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beginning of their coaching career. They'll

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update these elements as their skills improved

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and as the needs of their ideal clients change,

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but this is a massive effort

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and it enables them to reuse

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a lot of what they've already created. With

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this approach, they're not making a

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custom course for each individual

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client that comes through their program. What

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they're doing instead is creating one course

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and introducing multiple people to

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that program. As a coach,

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it won't matter if you have 10, 20,

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or even 200 clients, they're typically

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going to receive the same resources

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you've created. Assuming you sell

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your program in the right way. These

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coaching resources serve the same niche

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who have the same set of problems. And

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coaches are basically reusing a bunch of content

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that took a long time to create. Because

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a coach is meeting with a client also

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for a limited amount of time, and

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they're spending the rest of their time, redistributing

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resources and working on their business,

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they're able to take on a higher

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number of clients. I'm

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not discounting the time that it took

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to develop those resources and

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the content, but in doing so,

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a coach is able to take on many more

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clients, and they're not as limited to

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time as a service provider would be.

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When it comes to a done for you service,

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it is a whole different ballgame.

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I cannot provide the same brand

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and website to multiple people. Each

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brand has a different way to differentiate

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itself from other brands, and unique

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messaging. It need specific

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colors along with a unique logo. Each

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website needs to have a different layout,

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copy and messaging. And

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each one of these components is created

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custom for each business. It's

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the same for other service providers. For

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example, if you're a bookkeeper, you're going

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to have a bunch of records that you'll have to clean up.

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Each business owner is going to have different

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expenses and bank accounts. So

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your approach in providing this service

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is going to be in that context.

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With my business, it typically takes

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me about a month to develop a complete

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brand for a client. This

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includes all the messaging, copy, logo,

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colors, website, et cetera. I know

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other brand strategists that will provide the same

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amount of services, but they're going to do

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it over a course of say six months. I'm

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personally able to meet this time commitment

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since I only work with one client at

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a time, whereas a lot of other brand strategists

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will work with more people at a time. It

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really depends on the business model

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for the service provider, but even

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with six clients at a time over say a six

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month period, it is still

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far less than what

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a coach can typically provide. Looking

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at the difference between these numbers

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and the amount of clients that a service

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provider can take on versus a coach,

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it's clear that these are two very

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different animals when it comes to

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the goal of branding and marketing a coaching

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business versus a service based business.

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So when it comes to the goals, marketing

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for coaches very different. The coach's

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goal is to get their message out to the masses

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in order to sell to as many people as

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possible, because they can take

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on that higher number of clients.

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This is necessary because

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in the coaching world, you need a lot

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of clients in order to make the money

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that you could otherwise make as a service

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provider. A service

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provider on the other hand works with less

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people, but they

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can typically charge more because

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they're giving people their time back.

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And what is that time worth to them?

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The goals of their marketing becomes

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less about getting in front of a lot

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of people, but more about getting

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in front of a small group of the right people.

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We're going to explore this a lot more

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in future episodes, but

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for brief example, It

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is not unheard of to

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pay tens of thousands of dollars

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to a service provider without

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blinking. However,

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it's not as easy when it comes to coaches

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to raise their prices, to that point, they need

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to be extremely established

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to charge the same amount. Coaches

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and done for you service providers are very, very

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different. The marketing and messaging is very

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different. I wish I had

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known that I wanted to be a done for you service

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provider, and I wish I hadn't

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worked with coaches who primarily

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worked with other coaches or with

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service providers who want to eventually

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become a coach because that's a thing too.

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The coaches I hired were great, but

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because the goals of these two niches

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are so different, I was applying

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the wrong advice and going down the wrong path

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for awhile. I got to where

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I needed to go eventually,

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but the point of hiring someone is to take

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a shortcut, not the longer way around.

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Coaches and service providers are not the

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same. I know I've said that a lot during

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this episode, but it is so important

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to understand that when

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it comes to hiring

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other people for your business. These

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two different models need very different

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things in their businesses. And I wish I'd

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known that at the start so that I could

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have hired appropriately for my own business.

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And that's what I want for you. Thanks

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for listening to today's episode. If

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you want to learn more about the differences between

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the done for you versus coaching business

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model, check out the small business boss

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podcast episode. I have linked in the show

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notes. I've also linked to the no

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BS agency program that I talked about

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In the next episode, we'll be really

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digging into the differences between coaching

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strategists and consultants. So

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you'll know exactly what to call yourself and

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even better who you should hire for your

12:35

business based on where you're currently at. If

12:37

you're struggling to define your own role,

12:40

check out the show notes for a quiz that

12:42

will help you gain clarity for your own business.

12:45

And don't forget to hit that follow button to be

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notified when new episodes.