A coach's personal brand is the proof of the method. People hire the coach whose life and results already show what they are selling.
The Manifesto's health coach example puts it simply: the coach who posts tips on getting into shape has to bring the same discipline to posting that they bring to the gym. A coaching brand that is inconsistent undermines the very thing it teaches.
Coaches also work in one of the most cliché-heavy markets there is. Motivation and consistency slogans teach no one anything. Specific stories, with the steps and the lessons, are what make a coach memorable.
The health coach who posts tips on how to get into better shape must adopt the same attitude with posting that they do in showing up to the gym.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 8.7
Many coaches start with Friends and Family as their first clients. The Local Hero, known in a community or a niche through deliberate effort, is the first tier that sustains a practice.
Where most stand: Tier 2, Friends and FamilyBuild toward: Tier 3, The Local Hero
The tier measures how large a position is. How good it is, is measured by The Five Personal Brand Pillars. Read more about the six tiers.
The moves MCG starts with for coaches, grouped by pillar, in order. Each one cites the subchapter of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence it comes from.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews that applies to coaches, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
Set a ratio for your content and conversations where most of it connects and adds value and only a small part promotes. Let the offer come up naturally once the relationship is there.
“i'm not pitching you 24-7 and that's by design”
Unrivaled Results with Mashman Ventures, “UNRIVALED: Personal Branding Training”, April 13, 2022
Close your content with a direct invitation: reply, message me, tell me what you think. Respond to the people who do.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“tweet at me”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
Make a habit of connecting people who should know each other, for business, friendship, or collaboration. Do it without expecting anything back.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“the more introductions you make, the more it shows that you have a network”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “Making Introductions”, February 18, 2022
Schedule your own health, learning, and stability before your commitments to others. Treat them as the base of your ability to help.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“put your oxygen mask on first”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “3 Habits of High Performers”, May 25, 2020
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | One exercise clients can do in five minutes today. | Your own daily practice, unedited. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The excuses you hear most, ranked. | Something you are terrible at. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | A client's breakthrough in their own words. | The hardest season of your own life and how you got through. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Host a live question session. | Ask followers to share one win from their week. |
Draw a Week
Two posts about your work, one about your life, drawn from the ideas above.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
Be consistent, stay motivated, hustle. Replace each slogan with a specific story and what was learned.
The Manifesto warns the sales coach not to make prospective students jump through many hoops. Make the next step obvious.
Be transparent that the brand also serves you. The Manifesto argues that honesty about intent builds advocates.
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Coach on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
By living the method in public, consistently, and telling specific stories instead of slogans, with a clear and simple path to work with you.
Specific stories: a client's progress with permission, your own setbacks and what you changed, and the exact steps behind a result.
Often enough that it becomes a habit you keep when you do not feel like it. Consistency is part of what you are selling.
Clients buy a consultant before they buy the service. A personal brand with evidence behind it is what lets you charge for your judgment.
A large audience is fame. Whether it buys, believes, or follows you to a new platform is influence, and that is the part a creator has to build on purpose.
A book or a talk is an extension of you, not the whole of you. Authors and speakers who are booked again are the ones whose name is the reason people show up.
A cliché teaches nothing and moves no one. In a crowded market, originality is what cuts through the noise.
Every commitment you add to a personal brand asks you to show up and deliver. Habits keep momentum; motivation does not.
Sharing stories from your own life is one of the best ways to build rapport. People who only hear about your profession only stay for what they can get.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
