84 | Coaching is not one-size-fits-all (and that's the point)
In this episode of The Mindful With Media Podcast, I’m diving into why cookie cutter strategies often fall short.
With all the free advice online (and yes, even tools like ChatGPT!), it’s easy to wonder if hiring a coach is still worth it. But here’s what I’ve learned over and over again: nothing compares to the power of personalized support.
I’m sharing real stories from my own coaching calls—like the two clients who had nearly identical goals, but needed completely opposite strategies. You’ll also hear examples around pricing, marketing, and mindset work that prove how different our paths can be (and should be).
If you’ve ever felt like traditional business advice didn’t quite fit, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
- Why AI and free advice can’t replace a real human mentor
- What happened when one client needed an Instagram strategy—and another needed to quit Instagram altogether
- A fresh take on pricing that doesn’t involve “just charge more”
- Why your sales and marketing should be based on your zone of genius
- How to filter business advice through your personal lens
- The reason honest, nuanced marketing attracts the right people
- A behind-the-scenes look at my new offer, The Genius Sprint
Hang out with me on Instagram @thealexfales
Join the waitlist for The Serenity
Transcript
I am Alex, and you're listening
to The Mindful With Media Podcast.
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:I saw a post on threads the other day
and it said something along the lines
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:of somebody asked them why they should
hire them or why would they pay them
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:when they could just use chat, GPT, and
she had some answer that I agreed with.
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:I think she might've been a
health coach of some sort.
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:And I've actually been thinking about
that topic a lot lately, like why
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:would you hire a coach when not only
do we have tons and tons and tons of
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:free information online, but we also
have Chachi, PT and AI that can be
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:more personalized to a specific person
instead of just general information and.
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:I think I'll do a whole nother podcast
episode on that topic specifically, but
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:it actually applies a lot to what I wanna
talk about today, which is personalized
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:and individualized mentorship.
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:Because I husband even, for example, he's.
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:He's always loved health
and fitness and nutrition.
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:And a few months ago he used
chat GBT to design him a
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:personalized like fitness plan.
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:And it was fine and he was following
it, but then it wasn't what he wanted.
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:And so he ended up hiring someone,
a more personalized coach for him.
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:That was a human.
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:And there really is
something different about.
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:Chat, be chat.
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:GPT is pretty dang good for not being a
human, but nothing will replace a human
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:being able to read between the lines
and really being able to see what you
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:actually need and what you actually want.
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:That's been my opinion and
experience, and so I just wanted
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:to share a few examples from.
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:My experience just about how, how
important it is that you are, and
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:I don't even know if important, but
just how powerful and helpful it
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:can be to get individualized help.
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:And that really, to me, that's
what coaching is all about,
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:is it's about one person.
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:Where they're at right now.
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:Because the advice and the way that
I coach someone and the strategy that
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:we come up with, and the approach will
be drastically different depending
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:on where the person is at, what they
want to create, what's blocking them.
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:Some secret hidden.
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:Inner things that are going on, if we can
really dig deep and find out what's going
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:on there that will impact my approach.
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:And so it really is so
individualized and so personal.
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:And I just wanna share some examples
that I've had with clients and how I've
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:managed this and not even managed this,
but just like experiences that have helped
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:me realize just how important it is to.
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:To be individualized in our
approaches to creating what we want.
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:And as an example, this was when it
became really clear to me is I had two
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:back to pack coaching calls and social
media and content creation came up on
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:both of the calls and with one of the
clients, we ended up outlining a super
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:specific Instagram content strategy.
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:For, I think we did it for like
the next month or something.
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:Just very specific of what she would
post and like kind of these yeah,
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:just like a very specific strategy.
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:And then this other client that was
right after her, as we were talking
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:about social media and content creation
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:and what she wanted to create, I
recommended that she completely.
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:Set aside Instagram for a while and
not even go on Instagram, not post on
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:Instagram, and use other methods to share
about her offers and to get new clients.
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:And so it was just so interesting
to see these two people who wanted
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:to create very similar things, but
because of their individual strengths,
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:their individual challenges, their
individual life circumstances.
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:The approach that we took
was complete opposite, right?
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:It was totally different.
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:And so that, that's when
it really brought to light.
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:Like coaching is so individual
and the approach we take for what
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:we wanna create is so individual.
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:Another example of this is there are
several books and mentors who really.
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:Push this idea of charging more, you
know, double your prices or you know
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:you're worth more than you're charging.
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:Charge more, charge more, trench, more.
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:And I, again, this will not shock you
think that's a very individualized
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:thing that I actually think I rose, rose
raised like dramatically increased my
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:prices earlier than I wish I would've.
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:Because I was encouraged to, and it
actually was not helpful for myself and
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:for where my people were at at the time,
and it's, it's all worked out and I,
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:you know, learned from that experience.
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:But I was recently coaching someone about
this topic and kind of talking through.
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:You know her beliefs about money and
receiving money and things like that.
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:And I kind of shared my perspective on
this, that even though like her current
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:prices, I believed they were worth that
much, but for what she was charging,
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:but because she was having a hard
time asking for that much and letting
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:people pay her much that much, and.
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:The reality was her people weren't
in a place where they wanted to pay
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:that much for what she was offering,
even though she knew it was worth it.
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:They, they weren't there.
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:And so I think we have to be just open to
that idea that, so anyways, I guess I'll
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:just kinda share the rest of that story.
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:So she ended up.
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:So, you know, kind of offered this new
perspective of like maybe for the time
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:being as you are learning that it's safe,
like teaching your body and your nervous
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:system that it's safe to receive money,
lower your prices to something like
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:kind of ridiculously low for what you're
offering until you can get comfortable.
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:Working with clients that are
paying you and it feels safe
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:and it feels like a no brainer.
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:And then slowly raise your prices until
you can work back up to that point where
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:it feels safe to your body and your system
to charge that much and receive that much.
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:And then you don't have to do so much
money mind, like mindset work about.
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:If what you're offering is worth what
you're charging, and if people wanna
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:pay that to just slowly work up to
that, that can be a helpful approach.
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:And coming back to the whole theme
of this episode, that might not be
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:the right approach for you, but just
I just want to introduce that idea
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:that that can be a helpful approach.
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:Oh, because, yeah.
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:Then after our call, she messaged me
and said that someone signed up and
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:she, you know, she reached out to a few
people with this new price and someone.
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:Signed up and wanted
to pay her that price.
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:And this, this approach
is working for her.
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:Another example of just how everything
is so individual and there's not
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:one right way to do everything.
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:There's not a formula or a standard or.
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:That applies to everyone is I
think just marketing in general.
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:I
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:have been coaching a lot around this, and
I'll just share one client in particular
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:who I just, every time she went to launch
something, it felt so heavy and so.
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:Just like so much work and so we, we
kind of dug deeper about some of her
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:past experiences with selling things
and were able to identify a few things
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:times that she had people sign up to
work with her that felt really flowy
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:and natural and good, and realized
the traditional launching your offer
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:on social media approach was not in
her zone of genius that she actually.
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:Her zone of genius is
people love to refer her.
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:She like word of mouth referrals
are, are natural for her.
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:And so we kind of talked about some
ways to lean into that and, and
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:create a marketing strategy around
that instead of forcing her into.
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:This approach that wasn't resonating with
her and wasn't in her zone of genius.
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:And I'll, I'll mention, I'll
share more about this later, but
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:I actually I've been doing some.
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:Zone of Genius calls these just a
one time coaching call with people to
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:really identify their zone of genius
and how they can spend more time there.
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:And they've been so fun and the results
that people are seeing just from these one
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:calls have been so fun to hear the wins.
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:And so I actually designed a whole
offer around this, and I'm calling
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:it the Genius Sprint and typically.
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:My current rates are $1,500 a month for a
minimum of three months to work with me.
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:But for the Genius Sprint,
it's three calls within one
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:month, and it's 4 98 total.
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:And then you also get Voxer
access to me, and then you also,
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:well, we'll focus on creating.
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:A structure, like a structure for your
business and for your life and for your
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:workflow that really resonates with
what you want and what works for you.
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:And then we'll focus on simplifying
your business so you don't have all
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:that mind buzziness going on with
everything on your to-do list and
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:everything going on in your business.
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:And then we'll do, the third call
will be on your sales process, your
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:personalized, customized way of.
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:Selling in a way that's really flowy.
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:So not only will it feel better and feel
more fun for you, but it will work better
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:and we'll, you'll get more results.
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:So that's called the Genius
Sprint, and there are currently
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:two spots available for that.
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:And so I'll include the link in the
show notes for the Genius Sprint,
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:but just kind of another example.
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:Still related to marketing and how
marketing is so individualized and
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:there's not just one formula that
will work for everyone is, I'm sure
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:you've heard this idea of like, when
you're selling something and I've, I,
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:I've even taught this, I've even, I,
yeah, I've even taught this, but like,
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:sell people chocolate and then give
them the chocolate and the broccoli.
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:So as an example, like.
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:You know, for marketing, you know, like
if you're selling to someone who has a
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:business, you sell them, the chocolate
would be like, they wanna make more money,
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:so sell them the, that this program's
gonna help them make their money.
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:And then you give them the broccoli.
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:So that's like, okay, you're gonna help
them spend less time on their phone.
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:That was, that's very applicable
to my niche, is help them
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:manage their phone use where.
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:They think they want the chocolate,
but then you give them the thing
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:that's actually gonna help them.
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:The broccoli, right.
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:What they actually need.
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:And it totally depends on where you
are at and where your people are at.
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:'cause I was in a, it was one of
our serenity calls and we were,
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:someone brought this up like kind of.
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:I don't even remember what she asked,
but she was kind of wrestling with this
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:idea of like, well, I feel like I'm
supposed to sell them the chocolate.
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:But kind of feeling fake
about that or something.
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:I don't remember what it was exactly,
but what we realized is that for
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:the women who were in that serenity
call, and this is not true for every
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:one of my offers, this is not true
for every one of my clients, but.
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:So this may or may not apply to you,
but what we realized is that her clients
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:actually don't want the chocolate.
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:They are self-aware enough that they know
that they wanna pay for the broccoli.
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:They're already ready for
the, the deeper stuff.
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:The, the more yeah, the
more vegetable type stuff.
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:And so we don't need to.
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:Feel like we're doing it wrong just
because you and your clients are
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:in a different place from whatever
mentor you, you learn something from.
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:And I hope that as I teach principles,
you know, as you listen to my podcast
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:or as you see my posts on social media
or work in programs with me that aren't.
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:Individualized one-on-one coaching
that you will run everything I
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:teach through your own filter.
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:Does this apply to me?
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:Does this apply to me
right now where I'm at?
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:Because it's not one size fits all.
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:I will teach general principles
that have worked for me that may or
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:may not help you, but the the best.
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:Help and support is through one-on-one
because it can be more individualized.
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:And I think also related to this,
I recently sent out an email.
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:About honest marketing that
resonated with so many of you.
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:And I'll just kind of share the,
the gist of that email because
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:it resonated with so many of you.
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:So I, I, I talk about how I'm a
naturally skeptical person and my mom,
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:it still makes me laugh when I think
about this because like if any website.
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:Asks for her email.
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:You know how like most websites will
ask for her email for whatever it is.
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:She like really believes they're
trying to steal her identity.
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:She's like, is this legit?
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:Is this like, just very skeptical?
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:And so I'm very, I've been
very influenced by that way of
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:thinking, just being skeptical.
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:And my husband is always telling me about.
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:Some deal he saw or whatever it
is, like for new windows or for
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:a new workout app or something.
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:And I can always see the hesitation on his
face when he's about to tell me something
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:because I know I'm gonna grill him.
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:What's the catch?
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:What are they promising?
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:What?
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:Just very skeptical.
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:Anytime he tells me about something.
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:And I've realized that my clients
are the same way that they
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:they don't want me to over promise
something like they see past the any
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:marketing That's too good to be true
They that's not what they want They they
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:recognize that Life and business and
whatever it is they're solving for is way
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:more complex than just a simple solution
And so if you offer them just this program
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:is gonna solve all your problems or
whatever it is they're that's not what
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:they want because they know that's not
true And so they actually want me to be
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:honest in my marketing about what I can
offer what Results are possible from the
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:skillset and the experiences that I have
They recognize that it's gonna be more
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:complex than just pay this money and
the solution's gonna come And so I think
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:just recognizing that you don't have to
follow whatever marketing formula you've
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:been told because your people Might not
even want that that they probably want
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:you to be more honest in your marketing
Marketing about what you can offer And
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:you can even say that outright like I know
the marketing experts like I shouldn't
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:say this according to the marketing
experts but this is the reality and
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:And I think that actually really draws
people to you the right people to you
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:And kind of going off of the story that
I shared earlier about the client who
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:we talked through this approach of Uh
lowering lowering her prices because
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:of where she was at because of where
her her people were at I've also had
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:the exact opposite where someone was
charging a certain amount and kind of
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:talking her through what her offers were
worth and I should do the percentage of
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:She increased her prices like what
uh what is that:
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:And it worked because she believed in
that new price and her people were ready
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:for that A significant increase in prices
and it started attracting more of the
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:clients that she wanted because she was
willing to increase that price And so just
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:coming back to it depends on the person It
depends on the season It depends on your
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:niche Like it really is so individualized
I couldn't just say to everyone everyone w
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:prices or everyone significantly decrease
your prices Like it really just depends on
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:where you're at where your people are at
And obviously a million other factors too
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:So I think I just wanna
end on that note that
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:Everything you see on social media every
tactic you've learned every principle
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:you've learned make sure to run it through
your own personal filter Is this right
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:for me and not just me in general but for
where I'm at right now because it might
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:be a good fit Or like something might
have been a good fit for you in the past
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:That's kind of how I feel with marketing
where certain marketing approaches were
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:a really good fit for where I was in the
past and I'm in a different spot now My
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:people are in a different spot and so I'm
using different marketing methods and I
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:don't need to make my past self wrong Or
my current self wrong But just recognize
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:like different approaches are right
at different times and that's okay And
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:again just this is why I'm so passionate
about one-on-one coaching because nothing
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:Compares to that personalized mentorship
individualized support that goes so much
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:deeper than just a method or a formula
or a process But it really gets down to
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:the deep stuff the inner work the secret
thoughts and secret beliefs that are going
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:on and the complexities of our lives that
are impacting everything and how our lives
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:and our business are impacting each other
Your unique zone of genius that Nobody
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:else has your same zone of genius And if
you can really tap into that your unique
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:gifts and your unique way of doing things
in this season of your life and then
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:create structure and simplify and create
a sales process around that it's pretty
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:powerful What can happen in your business
how it can feel the the lightness that
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:can happen The type of clients you can
work with it's it's pretty magical And so
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:if you are interested and want you want
that one-on-one support this is a great
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:opportunity to get a taste of what it's
like to work with me one-on-one If you
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:wanna sign up for the Genius Sprint and
again yeah I'll include the link in the
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:show notes if you wanna check that out
