Years and years ago, as a busy, single mum of four daughters, I was run off my feet with school drop-offs and their ongoing appointments. I was not at my desk unless I had to be, so it made sense that I needed clients to make their enquiries through text, email, or through messenger.

This worked for me, as I could text someone back when I was sitting in the waiting room when my daughters were at the dentist etc. Personally, I have never been worried about who has my phone number, as it was my responsibility how I managed my phone use. I know some coaches won’t give out their number and that is perfectly fine to have that boundary.

I found clients would text me “Hey Claire, my friend referred you and I would love a session”.

GREAT! And then I would text them the link to book in.

I deliberately kept my initial session price low, so that people were more likely to lean into and pay. At the time, that’s what I needed. I needed money, as money was tight.

You may be starting your business part-time while working full-time in another job, or you have a partner who is bringing in financial security, so your approach may be different. You may want to charge the top rate and set your clients up for that expectation. Whatever feels right to you.

I NEVER did sales calls. With the way I work, the moment I talk to someone and link to their energy, my guides will start working and they will bring in healing.

I found it too difficult to talk about someone’s problems without providing the solution when they were triggered and feeling it at that moment. Knowing this I just didn’t do a sales call.

I also knew if I was going to show up and share my valuable time with a stranger, rather than my children, then they were going to be required to pay for it (even at a reduced price).

For me, sales calls don’t work.

In the early days, this strategy worked. All I needed was one woman with a big mouth and lots of friends and suddenly I was getting session enquiries from all over the world. I had no website and no social media. It was 100% word of mouth.

I soon learned that it was depleting my energy for people to have a way to book in whenever they wanted. People would come to me when their life was a mess and expected me to coach them out of that within 60 minutes.

I was exhausted from “putting out fires” and soon learned that I needed to work with PRO-ACTIVE clients, rather than RE-ACTIVE clients.

WOW – what a difference it made.

I then brought in the structure to have an initial session, with the option to purchase 5 sessions. I no longer offered 1 off sessions if I had already worked with them.

The initial session was to help both of us have 100% that we could work together.

I work at a rapid and intense pace (I like to get to the point). So, if clients needed a slower pace or a softer nurturing session – I was not the coach for them. “Let me give you Sue’s number” became a phrase that I became familiar with.

My intuition knew who my ideal clients were. I would get excited and energised to talk to them. Anything less than that and my energy would deplete. Honestly, I am resentful in scenarios like that.

I went into a ‘lack’ mentality, not trusting my intuition, and said to myself ‘I can push to make this work’.

For me, the cost of saying ‘yes’ to a client that I was not aligned to work, meant that they would still come away with an outstanding result, but I would have to spend money on chiropractors and acupuncture to undo the stress in my jaw and back.

This is when my team outlined that I must be fussy with who I worked. That my “Taxi light” was not on for everyone. This experience took me about two–three years to know what they truly meant.