Advertise on podcast: Small Business Talk For Coaches With Cathy Smith

How to Use AI to Create Webinars That Actually Connect | Episode 370 AI can help you create a webinar in a fraction of the time. But will anyone actually want to attend it, stay engaged or take the next step towards working with you? With AI making content creation easier than ever, webinars are starting to look and sound remarkably similar. More slides, more information and more automation don't necessarily mean more coaching clients. In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy Smith is joined by Nyrie Roos from Explosion Marketing to explore how coaches can use AI to create webinars and online events that genuinely connect with their audience. Discover why live demonstrations can be more powerful than perfectly polished presentations, how to use AI without losing your personality and why having the right strategy matters more than having the latest technology. We also explore the changing world of AI, including what's happening with custom GPTs and why coaches need to think carefully about the systems they rely on. Because AI can help you create the content, but it's the conversations and connections that create opportunities for coaching clients. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I asked AI to save me time. Instead, it sent me down a rabbit hole that cost me an hour and nearly my sanity! More ideas. More suggestions. More enthusiastic encouragement. And absolutely no closer to what I actually needed. Sound familiar? In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, I share how my AI brainstorming session went spectacularly off track, what a dramatic Bathurst 1000 fuel disaster taught me about trusting technology and why coaches need to think beyond the answers AI gives them. When does a tool designed to save us time actually start costing us time? Because sometimes AI isn't failing at all. It's doing exactly what we asked. And that's the problem. Listen to this episode to get the real answer. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I am just a coach.” How often do you play down your expertise because you don’t want to sound as though you are bragging? What feels ordinary to you could be exactly what a potential client needs. Your qualifications tell people what you have studied. Your stories, insights and experience help them understand how you can help. Are you sharing those or hoping people will work it out for themselves? In this episode, Cathy Smith explores how to use your clients’ words, draw on the experience you already have and stop underselling your contribution. Learn how to show people what you bring to coaching without feeling you have to prove yourself. 🎧 Listen now and find a more comfortable way to talk about why someone would work with you. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“That sounds exactly like what I need. Send me the details.” You do. Then silence. Before you question your price or rewrite your offer, consider what that potential client took away from your conversation. In this episode, Cathy Smith shares how she walked away from one car dealership and bought the same product from another. The difference offers a valuable lesson for coaches whose promising enquiries go quiet. Explore the three kinds of trust behind a coaching decision: trust in you, your process and themselves. Learn how to help potential clients picture working with you, make room for their unspoken questions and agree on a clear next step. They felt understood. Did they leave understanding? 🎧 Listen now and take one practical idea into your next client conversation. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can post consistently on LinkedIn and still hear crickets. Because posting is only one part of the puzzle. If you are waiting for the algorithm to put your content in front of the right people at exactly the right time, you are relying on hope rather than strategy. In this episode, Cathy Smith is joined by LinkedIn and marketing growth expert Sarah Hughes to unpack what actually creates client conversations on LinkedIn. They talk about building the right network, using shared connections, strengthening your profile, reaching out without awkward cold DMs and creating content that sounds like you rather than a marketing department. You will also hear why your LinkedIn profile matters beyond LinkedIn itself and how the right strategy can help people find you through Google and AI search. 🎧 Stop waiting for the algorithm to find you. Start using LinkedIn as the relationship building tool it was meant to be. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your marketing may not be failing. You may just be starving it of the conditions it needs to grow. In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy shares a lesson from two veggie beds growing side by side. Same soil. Same seedlings. Same care. One thrived. One struggled. The difference was sunlight. And that is exactly what can happen with your marketing. Before you ditch the strategy, change platforms or chase another shiny tactic, look at what is happening around it. Is your message clear? Are enough people seeing it? Are you being consistent? Is your marketing actually leading people into conversations? 🎧 Listen in before you throw out a strategy that may simply need more light. What part of your marketing is sitting in the shade? Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know you are good at coaching. Your clients get results and they love working with you. Why, then, does attracting consistent clients still feel so hard? The problem is not your coaching ability. Being an excellent coach and knowing how to build a successful coaching business require different skills. In this episode, Cathy reveals why visibility alone is not enough, why your warm network holds more opportunities than you realise and how clearer messaging, real conversations and consistent follow up can turn interest into clients. If you are tired of posting, waiting and wondering what you are doing wrong, this episode will show you where to focus next. 🎧 Listen now and discover the practical business skills that help good coaches get clients. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most coaches assume silence means no. Often, it simply means not yet. Your next coaching client may already be in your world. Someone who attended the webinar, replied to an email, had a discovery call or quietly raised their hand and then disappeared. In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy explores the follow up gap that could be costing you clients and why staying connected does not have to feel pushy, awkward or salesy. Because sometimes the problem is not getting more leads. It is what happens to the ones you already have. 🎧 Listen now and take a look at who might already be waiting in your world. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You keep telling yourself it is not ready yet. The offer needs one more tweak. The website needs another change. The post needs a better graphic. Yet what if all that preparation is the very thing keeping clients away? In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy Smith shares the surprising result of a pottery class experiment and explores the point where preparation quietly becomes procrastination. She also reveals how coaches can appear busy and visible on social media while still avoiding the conversations that build a business. If you have an idea, offer or message sitting on your computer waiting to be perfect, this episode is for you. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your potential coaching clients may already want your help. Have you made it feel safe enough for them to ask? They are reading your posts, visiting your website and considering booking a call. Then doubt steps in. Will I be pressured? Will my question sound silly? What happens if I reach out? After a surprising peck at her office window, Cathy recognised the missing step between attracting attention and receiving the enquiry. 🎧 Listen now and discover whether your marketing is opening the door or giving potential clients another reason to stay silent. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your audience can tell when you are reading. And they switch off faster than you think. Whether you are speaking on stage, appearing on a podcast or presenting online, knowing your content is not enough. The real skill is making your audience feel like they are the most important people in the room. In episode 360 of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy talks with Andrew Hurteau about what separates a prepared speaker from an engaging one and why confidence, connection and storytelling matter far more than getting every word right. If speaking makes you nervous, you rely heavily on notes or you want to become a more confident and engaging speaker, this conversation is packed with practical insights you can use straight away. 🎧 Listen now and learn how to speak in a way people actually want to hear.   Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if your next coaching client is not on social media? 🤔 Most coaches spend hours creating content, hoping the next post will bring their next client. What if the real opportunity is sitting in conversations you have already started? In this episode, Cathy Smith shares the 3 conversations that lead to coaching clients, why follow up is not being pushy and how one simple shift can turn existing connections into paying clients. 🎧 Listen now and start having the conversations that grow your coaching business. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if you did all the work to build trust, only for another coach to get the client when they were finally ready to buy? People do not buy because you are ready to sell. They buy because they are ready to solve a problem and they trust you can help. In this episode of Small Business Talk for Coaches, Cathy Smith shares a personal buying experience that reveals why the person who creates the need is not always the person who gets the sale. If people are listening, watching and learning from you but choosing someone else when they are ready to buy, this episode may explain what is happening. You might be sick of your message, but your potential clients are still out there waiting for you. Press play. The client who is not ready today may be closer than you think. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎧 What if the biggest coaching mistake isn't asking the wrong question... it's asking the next one too soon? Many coaches are so focused on asking powerful questions that they accidentally interrupt the very moment a breakthrough is about to happen. In this episode, Cathy explores one of the most overlooked coaching skills: recognising when to stop talking, hold the silence and listen beyond the story. Discover how noticing patterns, allowing space and using three simple words, "Tell me more," can lead to deeper insights and more transformational coaching conversations. If you want your clients to experience bigger breakthroughs with fewer questions, this episode is one you won't want to miss. 🎧 Listen now. Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎧 Thinking about leaving corporate to start a coaching business? Making the leap is about far more than getting certified. It is about shifting your identity, building confidence, creating a personal brand and learning how to run a business, not just coach. In this episode, Cathy Smith chats with leadership coach Shirley Sutton about turning decades of corporate leadership and HR experience into a thriving coaching business. They explore the mindset shifts, challenges and lessons that come with leaving the security of corporate life. Why personal branding matters more than ever and how to build a coaching business that reflects who you really are. Listen now and discover what it really takes to make the transition from corporate leader to successful coach. 🎧 Support the show: https://smallbusinesstalk.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.