Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 276.

To really compete in the coaching industry, you have to be great at coaching. That’s why every week, I will be answering your questions, sharing my stories, and offering tips and advice so you can be the best at what you do. Let’s get to work.

Hey coach, I am so happy you are here today. Today, we’re going to talk a little bit about the same thing we talked about last week, except much more in-depth. So last week, if you haven’t listened, it’s okay, you can listen to this standalone or you can go back, listen to that one and then come back and listen to this. But last week I talked all about, I said why I’m allergic to coaching best practices. It is a good one. Definitely listen to it either before or after this one.

But the short version of what I shared is that the way most marketing advice in the coaching space kind of assumes everyone is the same. And then when it doesn’t work for you, the coach, you blame yourself instead of just questioning the advice. You even sometimes then double down on that advice and you keep trying it and keep trying it until you’re kind of exhausted and burnt out and making yourself miserable. This could be happening on a large scale or it could be happening just like one tiny little thing at a time. And it happens to the best of us. Like even I have gone down this road before, which I will tell you about in just a minute when I share a personal story.

But today I want to go deeper into what to do instead of this, instead of just taking some blanket advice and then making it mean some things about yourself when it doesn’t work or when it does work but has you feeling exhausted. And I’m going to tell you a little bit about something I created called the business archetypes.

So, here’s what I want you to hold on to. If your marketing has felt exhausting or frustrating, or you just can’t figure out why it’s not working, or if you’ve been strategy hopping or feeling frozen or just burnt out from forcing things that you just feel like don’t fit for you, I just want you to know it is not necessarily a discipline problem or a consistency problem, it is likely at least partially a fit problem. And today I want to show you what finding what does actually fit for you, what that looks like.

But first I’m going to tell you a short story about myself that I’m going to use as an example. So a few years ago when I was in the middle of selling The Coach Lab, I decided I was going to host a webinar or workshop or masterclass every month for a full year. And I was convinced I had to learn that. It was a skill that I had to learn. It is the way to sell programs, right? That’s what the experts say. The coaches that I was working with, that was something that they used. And I even had very good examples of how to do an amazing webinar. And I studied them and I put so much effort into it.

And I showed up every month and I did the webinar or the masterclass and I tried so hard to learn to sell my program on the webinar live. And I have to admit something, I hated almost every single one of them. Now, I didn’t hate every part. I loved connecting with people and teaching and whatever, but the way I was trying to do it, the way I was being told it should be done, the way I was studying and really like putting so much effort into learning, it really just wasn’t for me.

Now I did it, I showed up and I hosted every one of those things, and I did learn a lot. But I have to say, I kept thinking, like this is just going to get easier. If I just do it enough, it’s going to get easier. And eventually, I just have to like break this magic code and it’s going to work. And by work, I mean sell actual spots of The Coach Lab on, like live on the webinar or masterclass or, you know, quickly in the first email or two after I hosted it.

And every time I did it, it was like I needed to recover, right? I was exhausted, I would take a little break, I would remind myself I had to do one again next month, and I would kind of pick myself up, come back, try again, and just feel exhausted every time. And eventually, I decided, what if I ask myself a different question, right? Like after the year, I committed to the year, I did the year and it really never got any better, no matter how much effort I was putting in.

So this was not an effort problem. If I’m honest, at first, I considered it was just a strategy problem, like this strategy is just stupid. No one should be doing it, whatever. But I also knew that wasn’t true because I was seeing my colleagues doing very similar things and it was working very well for them. And then I decided, what if the strategy’s not broken? It’s not a bad strategy. And what if it’s not a me problem that I have to keep going until I fix it? What if it’s just not the strategy that’s made for me? What if I started prioritizing my enjoyment instead of forcing what works and framing it as my growth or my learning?

So for me, I love real connection with other humans. I love seeing people’s faces and I love real conversations. I do not like at all to feel like I’m performing. I’ve never liked that, like even as a kid, right? Like if someone just looks at me and is like, okay, go, do the thing, right? My brain is like, no. So, I decided I’m not doing this anymore. So instead I started hosting things, trying and experimenting with things like just open coaching calls and trainings that were more interactive and having real conversations.

And instead of, you know, doing Zooms on a webinar style, I tried hosting them in the more open format where I could actually see people’s faces and there could be interaction, even if it was sometimes just interaction in the chat. But just being able to see other real humans and just knowing that they were there and feeling some sort of connection with them and feeling like we were in conversation.

So the goal was the same, right? To share value, to invite people into my world, to explain about The Coach Lab, but the approach became completely different. And that changed everything. First of all, I had so much more fun. Second, I really developed this rapport with some of my clients and potential clients where they just kept telling me, like, I love coming to these, like I just trust you, right? Now, I dropped the goal of like, okay, everyone has to buy actually on the webinar. I loosened that way up.

So I also decided I’m not doing a hard and long sales pitch. It just isn’t for me. And so I just started experimenting with all of these different things. And not only did I learn a ton, but of course, because I was enjoying myself, it also worked so much better.

And that was my first clue into like, you know, maybe it’s just true that some strategies are going to work better for some people than for others. Now, logically, I know this, of course, that’s so much of what I teach, right? Not everyone is the same, all humans are different.

But then when I started coaching other coaches on their business, then I started to notice this popping up everywhere, right? Where some of my clients were incredible at writing emails, but you know, if you ask them to do a live Instagram video, they would shrivel, right? Or they loved being on stages and speaking, but to sit down and write an email or a caption or whatever, they couldn’t do it. They would short circuit.

Or some of my clients loved building entire businesses through genuine connection or even through like DMs, like selling in DMs. And some wanted to teach and create very specific strategic frameworks. And so I started to see these patterns and they started to become very clear. And over the years as I experimented with opening up my offer to include business coaching, I just was taking all of these notes and it became super clear to me that people would fall into kind of one of five general categories or a combination of a couple.

And I will say for a while, I thought I don’t think that I can teach this. Like this isn’t how you teach business. If you’re going to teach business, if you’re going to be a business coach, I thought I needed to have the perfect formula. That’s actually why I resisted being a business coach for so long, even though I had so many clients, especially in The Coach Lab, who wanted me to coach them on their business.

And what it turns out, what I learned from this like two years of experimenting and figuring it all out, is that my magic formula, my best practice is helping other people find theirs, helping coaches find what actually works for them, what they enjoy. Because I know for sure now, because I’ve seen enough proof, that when they do that, that will be the thing that works and the way they will be able to grow their business.

So based on the patterns I was seeing, I created what I call business archetypes, and there are five of them. And most people, when they take the quiz, they learn that they have one main archetype, but some people have two maybe that are tied. And then you have maybe a couple others that you have scores in as well. And sometimes you might have one or two that you just don’t resonate with at all.

So I’m going to give you a quick overview of each archetype just enough that you can maybe start seeing yourself in one of them or in a couple of them. But I will also add the quiz to the show notes because you’ll want to take the quiz to know for sure. But don’t pause right now. Listen, finish listening to this episode, I’ll make it brief, and then go take the quiz, okay?

So the first one is the connected guide. The connected guide thrives on real relationships and genuine connection. They love one-on-one conversations that feel natural and not draining. They’re great at remembering details about other people and they’re great at following up and nurturing relationships. Their business grows through word of mouth and referrals because people trust them. That is often a big part of business for the connected guide.

And marketing that works for them might look like coffee chats or personal outreach, referral systems, or intimate group offerings. Marketing that drains them might look like performing for a big audience or a big space and content that feels impersonal and detached.

The second one is the thoughtful creator. So the thoughtful creator loves creating content, maybe writing, designing, building things. The thoughtful creator processes ideas by putting them out into the world, putting them into form. They would rather spend two hours writing a great newsletter than 30 minutes on a networking call.

Marketing that works for the thoughtful creator, things like newsletters, blogs, podcasts, courses, and content that lives and compounds over time, that’s just out in the world working for them. Marketing that drains them is constant real-time interaction or live videos or having to be on, on demand.

The third archetype is the dynamic presenter. They come alive in front of crowds. Live energy really fuels them, so things like speaking, teaching, or performing. They’re the most magnetic when they’re on some form of a stage, even if they get a little nervous, they are still magnetic and ultimately typically enjoy it. That can be virtual or in person.

Marketing that typically works for them: workshops, speaking gigs, live trainings, video content, and just being visible in general. Marketing that typically drains them would be things like writing long-form content, the slow relationship-building process, or behind-the-scenes work.

Number four, fourth archetype is the empathetic problem solver. They are incredible at understanding complex problems and helping people through them. They see patterns that other people might miss and people feel deeply understood by the empathetic problem solver. Marketing that works for them is content that addresses specific struggles, thought leadership, and being known for solving a particular kind of problem. And marketing that drains them is the surface-level kind of content with flashy tactics or anything that feels overtly salesy.

And the last one, the last archetype is the strategic partner. The strategic partner loves systems, strategy, and results. They are the person who comes with a plan. They’re also the person to go to when you need a plan.

Marketing that works for them might look like sharing things like case studies, data, results-focused content, partnerships, or being kind of the expert’s expert. Marketing that drains them is being the face, the literal face of everything, like personal branded content, or vulnerability marketing or just open sharing often.

So I want you to consider this. As I went through those, you probably felt something. Maybe one jumped out or maybe a couple jumped out. Whatever you noticed, that’s just good data. And I want to be very clear, even though I gave some examples of marketing that might work or marketing that might drain you, those are still just examples, right? This is not a diagnosis and you could be a mixture of different archetypes. I do not want you to take these and think, oh, now this is what I have to do.

The whole purpose of me creating these is just to really help you start to identify some activities that might fuel you and that you might enjoy and some that might drain you or explain why when you do some certain strategies or activities, they might work better than others, or sometimes why you might feel super frustrated or exhausted when you are trying something that you’re like, but it works for everyone else.

Okay, now I just want to give you a couple examples of what this might actually look like in action because now that I have been working with people with the archetypes, I do have so many examples of how the archetypes and just really understanding what you enjoy and what comes more naturally to you can completely change the way you approach your marketing.

So, here’s a case study. Client number one, she is a dynamic presenter. And when she came to work with me, she was on social media constantly. She was creating posts and reels. She kept adding new platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn, thinking she had to post all the time and that her posts needed to convert. And she was kind of making herself crazy over it, right?

When we identified that she was the dynamic presenter, that made so much sense to me. So when I asked her what she enjoyed, she said, “I love doing workshops. I love being in front of a crowd.” And then she shared that she had been recently at a networking event and they asked her to speak on stage at the last minute and she just got up and did it. She loves that live energy, right? The teaching in real time and being in front of people.

So, we started there. I said, okay, what if that is the main plan for how you are going to show up for now? What could that look like? So she didn’t just quit social media. She didn’t get off social media. She just started looking for ways to speak at community events, at virtual meetups, anywhere she could be in front of people live or virtually but live. And her business turned around so quickly. She went from being super frustrated and annoyed with all of it to loving and enjoying what she was doing.

And then of course, doing all of those things fueled then her social media because all the pressure was off. Then she just got to post about the activities she was doing and the speaking she was doing and it just fueled all the other content she was creating.

The secret is she started having fun. And you might hear that every once in a while, like, oh, just have fun in your business. And your brain might think, like what does that even mean? That’s so lame. Business is hard. I don’t know how to do that. But this is what it means to have fun in your business. It doesn’t mean you’re never doing anything hard or that you aren’t have ever having any negative emotion and that you’re just always full of joy, but it means doing these things that you actually enjoy, that light you up, and then that fuel all the rest of everything you’re doing.

Okay, let’s talk about a second one. Case study number two. Now this client was a mix of an empathetic problem solver and a thoughtful creator. So this client came to me and she was trying to build her business mostly by going to networking events, having all these one-on-one conversations, trying coffee chats. And when I say networking events, I mean so many networking events.

And then she was sprinkling in some social media posts and talking about what she was doing. But she thought she had to do that because that is what official business owners do. They network, they meet people, right? Like the meet and greets. You have to be out in the world talking to people.

And when we dug into it, when I asked her, what do you just enjoy? Like if you could just do one activity and it would work and it would get in front of your people, what would it be? And she said, I would just write all the time. And she’s an incredible writer. I had read some of her stuff. So seeing that she’s a mix of an empathetic problem solver and a thoughtful creator, that means she’s amazing at thinking through the complex problems and then turning them into great content. I would say that’s a pretty good mix of things.

So, we came up with a plan where she decided to start a newsletter and then what if she published it on Substack, no networking unless she just wanted to. And she put all of her good energy into her writing and into getting it in front of more people. Not only did she start signing clients from that, like actually signing clients from her newsletters and her Substack, but she was also so much happier. She wasn’t forcing herself to go to multiple networking events every week and stay for the whole thing because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?

She was no longer feeling exhausted by all of that. So then she was fueled by the work that she actually loved. Then, of course, what happened? Her business finally started growing after, I’m going to say like no movement almost for about two years, two full years of making herself miserable, going to all the networking events, meeting all the people.

So here’s what I want you to actually take away from these stories and why they work. I do not want you to hear them like, oh, it’s just a magic wand. All you need is your archetype and then ta-da. It’s just information. It just allows you to get curious about what’s working and what isn’t. So here are your takeaways. Start with what you enjoy. That is what will work. Find strategies that fit your natural wiring. That works. Trust yourself over trusting industry-made-up standards. That also works. Find support that encourages your uniqueness. That absolutely works.

And remember, there’s seriously, I promise you, there’s no perfect marketing formula. I have looked and looked and looked and searched. There’s just finding what fits how you’re wired. And when you find that, your business will get a little easier, a lot more fun. You will enjoy yourself so much more, and you will have the energy to keep going and keep experimenting.

So if you want to learn what your archetype is, just as I promised, there is a quiz that you can take. I will link it in the show notes. You just, it’s just a simple opt-in. So you just opt into it and then we will email you the quiz, and you can just find your archetype. It takes about five minutes unless you overthink it, then who knows? It could take a lot longer. It’s 10 questions, so it shouldn’t take too long. Then you’ll get your results plus a very high-level overview of what that means.

Now, just one note here, I have designed this quiz to be used inside of The Complete Coach, the membership. And when you take it in there, it’s very different than when you take it here. When you take it in there, you get a lot more feedback. You know all of your archetypes and the percentage you are of each and a full breakdown.

But for the purpose of this, because that would be too much for you to get here without any support on what to do with it, I just thought it would be interesting to have just a simple quiz that will just tell you your main archetype and kind of what that means. And then you can always come back here and re-listen to the episode where I’m talking about the archetypes as well. So I’ll put that link in the show notes.

So take it, see what you get, and just get curious. What resonates about it? And be sure when you’re answering the questions that before you answer any of them, you really clear out what you think you are supposed to do versus what the questions are really asking, which is like what would you prefer to do? Set aside, like do I think it will work, and just answer them from just your pure humanness, okay? And then if you want, you can message me, maybe DM me on Instagram or email me. Let me know your results, let me know if it resonates. I’m so curious. I love talking about this.

And then if you love this and it really resonates and really shows you something about yourself and you want more, this is work that we do inside The Complete Coach and you can get on the waitlist for that at any time. If you’re listening in real time, it is not currently open for enrollment, but it will be soon. So if you love this and you want more, get on the waitlist, at least to get more information.

And then the last thing is, I have loved how much you all are loving my recent episodes. If this episode really resonates with you, I would love a rating and review to help other coaches find it. So literally, it would take you 10 seconds, 20 seconds, maybe two seconds if you don’t leave a review, just click the five stars or however many stars you think. It feels awkward for me to ask, but I would really, really appreciate it. That would be incredible.

Thank you so much for listening. Now go take the quiz, then let me know what your results are and remember this, you are not bad at marketing, no matter what it feels like sometimes, you might just be using methods that just aren’t meant for you. As always, I’m so glad you’re here and I’ll talk to you again next week. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.