Nowadays, anyone can just print out business cards and call themselves “business coach.” And many do. There are over 60,000 business coaches in the US alone. But as competitive as the industry is, it is largely unchecked and unregulated. This is why fake business coaches and business coaching scams have proliferated.
Many of these business coaching scams target inexperienced business owners who just want their businesses to grow. Unfortunately, they get deceived by unqualified business coaches who only care about getting money and not about getting results.
If you’re a female entrepreneur looking to hire a business coach, here are ten common scams you should look out for:
We all know how big and powerful the platform Facebook can be. And for many business, Facebook is a great way to sell and promote their products and services. But this doesn’t work for all businesses. If your ideal audience is not on Facebook, this method won’t work for you. It’s the same case on any other social media platform.
Some business coaches will try to entice you with results and numbers from others who have succeeded using Facebook. But don’t fall for it. Ask and learn how it can help you specifically.
I do recommend that female entrepreneurs take advantage of social media and Facebook groups, but don’t fall trap to a scam trying to get you to pay large sums of money for their help.
If you believe you need a funnel to make you money, but you have no idea how to create it on your own, some businesses will try to take advantage of this and charge you ridiculous amounts of money to build it for you. They make it seem very complicated, so you start to feel like a beginner.
If you do not have a large advertising budget or a big following, your funnel is not going to work as well as you hope. Don’t get tricked into believing that you need this service. You will need a lot of money to test your ads campaigns on any platform. If your budget is not big enough, you will never get past this phase. And in that case, you cannot make a lot of money with your funnel.
You don’t need this, especially when you’ve only just started a business. You need a big following or a lot of money to pay for ads before you should think about building a course. You will need a substantial email list, lots of social media followers, online copywriting skills, and design skills. You will need a launching strategy with emails, webinars, and so on.
They don’t tell you this. What they do is make you believe that you need it and that it will make a huge difference in your business. And they promise you that they will build it for you. You only need to pay them.
The truth is you don’t need this, or at least not yet. As a business coach for women, let me tell you this, creating the course is the easiest thing to do. You can do it yourself once you’ve grown enough.
While finding your ideal audience is crucial in growing your business, it’s not the only factor. Don’t believe that once they do this for, you will be able to attract them right away and all your problems will be solved.
This simply isn’t true. There are many phases of targeting your ideal audience. If you can’t sell in a personal conversation, or when you can’t sell online, knowing your ideal audience won’t ensure sales.
A fake business coach will require you to pay fees upfront and not in monthly installments. Why? Because if you pay in increments and you notice that you’re not getting results, you will have the option to stop paying.
This is how they get you. When you’ve already paid for everything, you’re left with no choice but to stick around. And when the coaching doesn’t work, they will tell you that it’s your fault for not putting in the work.
An individual or business may lure you in by showing you how they made a million dollars overnight with real statistics. But there is no ‘get rich quick’ fix. What they do not tell you is that they have been working for years to build a big email list, or that they have tried and failed many times until they found something that works particularly for them.
I personally have written two books, and yes, I am making money from the spinoff. But to be honest, it’s not easy money and surely not as much as I was told to.
Besides, who hasn’t written a book nowadays? Becoming a best-selling author is really easy when you know the tricks to do this. And if this is the only selling point of a business coach, you shouldn’t fall for it.
If you are not already a celebrity, you will likely not get asked to speak at all.
If you haven’t already made a name for yourself, you need to be out there every day promoting yourself, calling event organizers, and proving yourself over and over for very little money.
Yes, I am making money off the spinoff of my speaking gigs, but only because I’ve created a system. If I only speak and sell my book, I would not make money at all. This promise is not true, and don’t believe it when you hear it.
There is no real ‘duplicate me and you will get rich’ strategy. Every businesswoman is a different person. So the strategies that work well for me, might not work for you. Everyone’s audience is different, so you need to approach them differently. Your circumstances are different as well. Don’t believe that a one-size-fits-all approach is what will make you successful.
First of all, the sheer number of subpar eBooks I see recently is downright ridiculous. Often, they are very well marketed. The content, though, is almost always very poor. Many use eBooks only to get your email address, and not because they want to give value.
Even if you have a valuable eBook, with the right cover and great content, your email list is not going to grow overnight. It takes work and constant promotion everywhere you can, to grow your business with an eBook.
Besides, business coaches who tell you that you’ll earn a lot of money from writing an eBook earn much more from you paying them to teach you, and not from the actual eBooks.
There’s so much more that I can add to this list. But the most common characteristics of these scams are that they make you believe that you get results without working, and in a short amount of time. They also sell the idea that you only need to follow a “formula” and your problems will all be magically solved.
As a business coach for women, with over three decades of experience, I will tell you what really works: focus, consistency, and a holistic approach. If you are really serious about scaling and growing your business you need to work on all areas. Working on one area is not going to make the difference you are hoping for.
My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Woman’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.
There are many out there who call themselves business coaches, but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert on many areas of business. I can help you with whatever topic you need help with.
If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women, check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.
Are you interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.
Tineke Rensen, from Powerful Business Academy, is in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold this after 22 years. Tineke was a national whitewater kayaking champion.
She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less”. There are very few topics she cannot help you with, in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?
Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success”. She is a multi-award winning, serial entrepreneur and she is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women”
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