Hope you’re having a great summer so far. For me, it’s been a summer of learning and teaching – I just became:
an official ICF coach,
and I’m headed to Budapest to teach public speaking to an MBA class at the Central European University.
(Actually writing this from the plane)
yep my husband tries to get some sleep unsuccessfully during my 10th attempt at a selfie
But I wanted to share a story of another coach today – one that’s not as sunny.
When K reached out to me, she had the dream of speaking on the TEDx stage.
She had been a career coach for several years, and had helped several hundred people get jobs they love.
She was an expert at what she did.
However, the day we had our first call, she was upset.
“Nausheen – I’ve been coaching for so long, but I still need to “convince” people to work with me!” “I’m sick of having to prove how good I am over and over on sales calls”. “I just want to get the credit and recognition that I know I deserve”.
She almost cried as she said those last few words.
I totally agreed.
If you’re an expert in your field, you want to be recognized.
You want clients lined up outside your door, wanting to work with you.
You want prospective clients showing up on sales calls ready to buy.
It’s not just about making money – it’s about feeling like you’re being “seen and heard”.
That’s where your speaking skills come in.
I’ve seen coaches, consultants and new entrepreneurs start becoming visible bit by bit:
- You start speaking on podcasts.
- You start doing LinkedIn Live events and webinars.
- You start creating video for LinkedIn or creating courses.
These are great ways to make a deeper impact with your prospective clients.
They get to see you, hear you speak and see your expertise in action.
But there’s a catch.
I’ve seen a vast majority of entrepreneurs waste these opportunities.
Because they don’t take time to consider how to make the maximum impact when they speak.
That’s why you can do dozens of podcasts, create videos and do tons of sales calls…but not grow your business and influence by much.
(Hard words to hear I know. It’s hard for me to write them).
P.S. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. This coach called me in a panic, a week after we had started working together. She told me she didn’t have enough funds to buy groceries and would need to stop everything to figure out how to get more clients urgently.
That was a big reality check for her (and for me).
You can do amazing work with your clients – but if you don’t know how to talk about it, you’re dooming yourself to play small.
