I think it’s about time to have that chat! As much as I say that it is a great time to be in the digital age, due to all of the opportunities, one of those businesses we have seen a rise in is “Business & Branding Coaches.” Let’s be real, not everybody knows how to use all of the digital tools to build a business and they need help, but we are seeing a rise of fraud coaches.

There are way too many coaches who are promising results that they haven’t even gotten for themselves. I personally get contacted by people asking me if I have ever worked with anybody locally because they are trying to figure out which coach can actually help them. There are people who bounce from coach to coach every month and while yes, there are people who are probably getting good advice but not executing, but I personally see wayyyyy too many coaches that I wouldn’t spend a dollar on with their programs.

So since this is a common issue that I see people asking about and sometimes it’s tricky as a prospective client looking for a coach, to figure out who is worth your money. Here are my top 7 ways to spot a bad Business or Branding coach:

1. What does their body of work look like?
2. Every Week, There is A New Promo
3. Are Their Client’s Someone You Aspire To Be Like?
4. Is The Coach Full Time In Their Business?
5. Are they practising what they preach?
6. Are they teaching something tangible or are they just inspiring you?
7. Is there an ideal client abroad or are they geared towards helping locals?

What does their body of work look like? – In a world full of tools that allow us to look bigger than we are, look pretty, polished, and if they have been blessed with the gift of gab, it’s easy to get swept up in their brand. What I encourage everybody to take a step back and do, is start by Googling the coach, what does their digital footprint look like? Have they been featured on platforms of Authority? What have they built for themselves and is it something that you yourself admire? If you cannot answer these questions, please do not spend a penny with the coach.

Every Week, New Promo – It doesn’t take much of a genius to see that if you are following a coach who has a new promo every week, there is a problem. The successful coach usually has signature programs, a membership website or creates digital products that teach you tangible things. If every week your coach is coming out with a new program, a new promotion, or if it even feels like they are simply not trying to provide thorough solutions but just get your money, please do not spend a dollar with this coach.

Are their client’s people you aspire to be like? – Take several steps back and start analyzing the people that they have worked with. Get past those B.S testimonials that they have on their website and really look at their clients. Do the clients have a good business? How good are their clients doing? Whose the best client that they have helped under their belt and is it a business you admire? You need to really dissect the clients because the job of a great coach is to get the best results out of clients. If you do not like the results of their clients, chances are that they probably cannot help you and you should not be spending your money with them.

Are they full time in their business? – Now, this really depends on what they are teaching. Coaches can definitely do their thing part time but do not be afraid to put it into the context. If a business coach is trying to tell you how to build your business but they rely on their full-time job for income, is that someone you would want to learn from? Are they open about their full-time job? There are some coaches who talk about building your brand and they do not spend much talk of their full-time job that supports them. You just need to be aware of these things because the bigger picture ultimately adds up to whether or not you should spend your money with them.

Are they practising what they preach? – There are way too many coaches out there who are telling you to do things, but they aren’t doing it for themselves. How can someone coach you on a building a digital business, build your brand online, when they have barely done it for themselves nor do they have a proper body of work for you to gauge their expertise on.

Coaches forget that, just because they learned something, they need to find a way to put it into practice before jumping to monetization. If as a coach, you have learned new skills, I beg you to please find some businesses that you can help for free, so that you can use them as a point of reference if you have actually found success. Spare us with the, You just read about this in a book and now you want to make money off it. You are just hypothetically speaking.

Are you being taught something tangible or being inspired? – As a client, you really need to understand this. There are many coaches who operate at the surface and focus more on inspiring you to do something, rather than actually teaching you a tangible skill. Always figure out what is the end result of working with a coach and see if it is inline with what you are looking for.

Are their ideal clients abroad or are they helping the local market? – This one is very key. You have to understand that we live in the Caribbean. Coaches use living in the islands as a way to sell to markets abroad. It works like a charm because who doesn’t want to work from a remote island? It’s easy for them to use that and gain traction in markets abroad. However, their content may not be geared or adapted towards what you are trying to do in your local market. Be advised and really dissect what the aim of the coach is.

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This goes without saying, every client needs to put in the work to get results! This article was meant to give you guys things to assess and think about when searching for a coach to work with.

A lot of the local coaches that we have here, simply have not built their own brand to really help you step your game up and take your business to the next level. So be advised, the signs are there. Get to know who you should be working with and whom you should be passing up on.

If you are a budding coach, you are ONLY as good as your portfolio. You need to showcase your results, we need to see the people you work with doing well. There is a reason most fitness coaches show before/after pictures of their clients, they want to show you that they have what it takes as a coach to get results!

In the words of every math teacher on the planet, “show your work!” Do not just try to monetize everything! Please, I beg you…Take your theories, help people for free, find out if all of your practices are worth the paper you write them on! Then show us a real body of work. The goal is to help build the Caribbean region and not have these people spinning top in mud, wasting their money on your unproven schemes.

I tell everybody, I am not a coach, I am a practitioner! All I want to ever see is my fellow entrepreneurs growing their businesses with me and finding their own success.