Make It Visible
You’re full of amazing coaching skills, ideas, and a desire to make a difference, but marketing your coaching biz isn’t your thing?
Meet Michelle, your business bestie who knows exactly how to help coaches like you get seen, get heard, and get paying clients.
No more feeling invisible. Let’s make marketing easy-peasy and magical.
Make It Visible
#214: How Long Does It Really Take to Get a Coaching Client?
Ever feel like you're doing all the things—posting on social, networking, launching offers—and still wondering... when am I actually going to land a client?
You’re not alone.
In this episode of Make It Visible, I’m breaking down the REAL timeline behind signing your first (or next) coaching client. Whether you're just getting started or in a slow season, this will give you clarity, confidence, and a strategy to move forward.
✨ Plus, I’m sharing why time isn’t the problem—and what to focus on instead if you want to speed things up.
🔑 If you’re tired of playing the waiting game, this one’s for you.
What you'll learn from this episode:
- Why there’s no “set” timeline for signing coaching clients—and what factors actually influence how fast it happens.
- The one shift that makes your audience go from watching to working with you.
- How to build trust quickly, even if you’re starting from scratch.
- The hidden reason you might be repelling potential clients without knowing it.
- What to focus on daily to stay visible (and get hired faster).
- Real talk on comparison and what “overnight success” actually looks like behind the scenes.
If you loved this episode and you’re ready to stop waiting and start getting visible in a way that lands clients AND speaking gigs, then don’t miss your chance to join Signature Talk Academy—my signature program that shows you how to use your story to get booked and paid.
🎤 Enrollment opens Monday, April 7
Join the waitlist at https://members.elevatelifecoaching.org/mysignaturetalkwaitlist
Drop me a line and share your thoughts!
Meet Your Host:
Hey there! I’m Michelle Kui—Visibility Marketing and Speaker Success Coach.
I’m the founder of Elevate LifeCoaching, where I help coaches like you build a stand-out brand, attract high-quality 5-6 figure clients, and land paid speaking gigs—all by leveraging the #1 most important asset in your business (hint: it’s not JUST social media!).
My Journey into Public Speaking & Visibility
My speaking journey started early—at 9 years old when my dad voluntold me to enter a speech contest (thanks, Dad!). Since then, I became the go-to speaker whenever someone needed a voice on short notice.
From leading corporate workshops to running training sessions, I thrived where most people froze—grabbing the mic while others sat back, hoping not to get called on.
After working with hundreds of coaches, I realized a HUGE missing piece that most entrepreneurs completely overlook—and it’s the #1 strategy top coaches use to grow their business, attract premium clients, and get booked on bigger stages.
Are you using it? If not, let’s change that. 🚀
🐦 SOCIAL STUFF:
Instagram ➔ / elevatelifecoach
Facebook ➔ / coachmichellekuei
Linkedin ➔ ...
okay, let's talk about it. You've done the trainings, posting on social, maybe even launch your coaching program, but clients they're nowhere to be seen and you're probably wondering how long is it it supposed to take? Is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Should I quit? If that sounds familiar, my friend, this episode is for you. Today, we are breaking down the timeline for exactly how long is it actually going to take in order to get your first or next or thereafter coaching client and, spoiler alert, it is not always overnight, in case you haven't noticed yet. I'm going to share how to speed things up and what really moves the needle, especially for me back in the years, and how to keep your head in the game while you're still waiting for the result to catch up. So grab a notebook and your favorite drink. Let's get right into it.
Michelle:Hey, you're listening to Make it Visible podcast. I'm your host, michelle Kui. I am a visibility marketing coach and soon to be your business bestie in the coaching business world. Not knowing how to connect with your audience, grab people's attention and get them excited to buy from you should never be the reason you give up on your dream to become a full-time coach. I'm all about making marketing the easiest part of your coaching business, so that you can turn a passion for coaching into a visible and profitable reality. So buckle up, ladies, let's get started.
Michelle:One of the things I believe have really helped me, as well as many of my clients, is speaking. So speaking actually allows you to build credibility, authority and the fact that you're actually out there creating content, not just on the social media posts, but you have a mic. You're actually speaking directly to your clients and the people that you're trying to serve. So I personally believe one of the fastest way to get clients is actually by you turning on the camera, or, if you don't like the camera, at least it's a podcast, but grab that microphone and get onto the stage and speak. I am really excited because next week I'll be opening my Signature Talk Academy. Very soon, the enrollment will be open In the Signature Academy. I'm going to show you my framework of how to structure your talk, how to create that presentation that your dream client just won't be able to say no to you. And imagine, by the time you finish that talk, there's people lined up waiting at the door for you to sign up and wanting to work with you or inviting you back to this week at the next event. So if you wanted to go check out my Signature Talk Academy, you'll be able to hop onto my waiting list and once the program is open for enrollment, you'll be the first person to know.
Michelle:All right, let's talk about exactly how long would it actually take for you to get your client. I know there's a lot of coaches out there. You're showing up, you're playing the game, you're doing your best and you're posting every day, but that feeling of when am I going to see the result? It always come back and haunt you. How long is this supposed to take?
Michelle:So today I'm going to talk about a couple of things that I think it's really important for coaches to set. Number one, to set your expectation, because a lot of coaches walk into this business thinking that if I do certain things, then I should see the result that I'm doing right and so it should be faster. That mindset is actually a trap. Okay, because you're putting an expectation of if I do x, then I should see y. In business, it doesn't work that way, and it also depends on the niche that you're going to be in whether you're spending a lot of time still developing your niche and getting things together. Or maybe you're focusing on a specific area of your business and you're not really paying attention to the other aspects. It should be faster mindset. It's a total trap. So number one to get your clients and to start seeing the result that you want is to actually drop that mindset. It's not going to be any faster. Things will happen naturally and taking place at its own pace. Just because someone on Instagram can land a client in three days doesn't mean that's normal, right. Just because another coach posed my client just signed up a $30,000 client that doesn't mean that it's everybody. So we need to stop normalizing that some of the posts or some of the claim of the success. It's not a standard for everybody and we don't have a one size fits all timeline, right. That's just in all honesty. There's no one size fits all timeline.
Michelle:Some people because their background maybe they came from a sales background, maybe they came from an environment where they continuously had that demand for a conversation that they've been having on for a long time. We never know what kind of conversation they had in the past. Right, it could be just everything was just fall into place so perfectly and so when they offer, it was just so much easier for their clients to say yes to them because they already had that conversation going. Now, for you, you might be coming from a place of I'm starting this from scratch. Back in the years I was starting the business from scratch, I didn't have any background right, so it was very challenging and very difficult. This is why I get what you're going through. Is that a lot of time? We're trying to figure out how do I even talk to people? How do I even reach out to people? How do I even send a DM to somebody? Right? There's so many different variables when it comes to it should be faster. So number one is let's drop that mindset that it should be faster. There's no specific timeline. So don't give yourself, don't box yourself in just because you saw a post that someone had landed a client in three days or five days or within a month, or this coach had made six figure coaching business within six months or three months. Let's drop that, because that is not normal. That is the exception, not the rule.
Michelle:Okay, so building a business is about building trust. It takes time. Think about your own journey, right? How long does it take you to trust someone to be in a relationship. That's not even talk about business relationships. That's talk about your personal relationship, right? How long does it take you to actually warm up to somebody or to even say hello to your next door neighbor? Some of us, we don't feel comfortable at all. Some of us, we don't even know who our neighbor is, right? So think about that building trust.
Michelle:Business building is about building trust and trust is developed over time. So, client, they don't buy from you in that moment that they meet you because they are still trying to learn more about who you are. Can I trust this person? Is this person honest? Is this a scam? Especially nowadays, there's a lot of prospects who are very hesitant because of the things that they have. Maybe it's their experience that they had in the past. Maybe it's a bad experience. So you want to allow the time to develop so that they can trust you over time. So it should not be faster because there's no one size fits all timeline.
Michelle:Some coaches will get a client within 30 days. A lot of my clients they get clients within four weeks or five weeks, but they already had conversation going. I pointed direction for them to where to look. But these are some of the clients that they already have conversation to start with. So some of the coaches will get a client in 30 days. Other coaches it may take 90 days, it may take six months, it may take up to a year to finally get the hold of it, because they need to figure out the niche, they need to figure out the messaging, they need to figure out like which platform do I want to be on, what visibility strategy do I want to use and how do I warm up to my audience, and so there's a lot of things that you need.
Michelle:I'm still trying to figure out for yourself as a business owner, as a new business owner, and trying to get people to familiarize with you, right, to get to know you and understand what is it that you can offer that people would actually want, and that takes time to develop over time. The key thing here is that, because it's not one size fits all, so you're not really behind, right, this is not a competition. You're not in a race with anybody else. It's just part of the process of trying to get your business going. So just keep that in mind. What you do today is going to matter because if you continue to allow yourself to be that mindset of you. Know what? I'm not moving faster enough, I'm not doing this quick enough. Oh, I should have my niche statement already. I should have this message clarity already. All these should have, would have, could have. And you know how it goes. It goes down to the spiral of that blame I'm not good enough, the shaming of I should have a business already, and maybe it is even the pressure from your family.
Michelle:When we started our coaching business, we were so excited and share with all our friends and family, and every now and then they're just here to remind us is your business taking off? Yet I go to work, and a lot of time my co-worker would be like, when are you going to quit this job? But I thought you have another job, right, and so you couldn't help but feel like, oh, I'm not moving fast enough. But remember, what you do today is going to pay off later. Again, things like posting consistently right, you don't have to do it daily, but are you doing it consistently? Are you creating your email list? Are you building your email list?
Michelle:One of the things that I had talked about in some other episodes was that one of the greatest assets that you can have in your business is actually creating that email list. Now, how do you get people onto your email list? There's so many different ways. Right, you can create lead magnet, but where do you get people onto your email list? There's so many different ways. Right, you can create lead magnet, but where do you share your lead magnet? You can share on social, and one of the great plays I encourage all my clients to do is, every time you go onto a podcast, every once you turn on a camera and do a webinar, start sending people to your email list. Right when you go to a speaking engagement, send people to your email list. And that's how you curate that email list that you own and not just relying on social. And so, again, if you are interested to leverage speaking as part of your marketing visibility strategy, I highly recommend to go and check out my Signature Talk Academy. I'm opening up the re-enrollment soon, next week. Definitely go check it out, because it's really a game changer for myself and for many of my clients, so I definitely don't want you to miss it. So go check it out at mysignaturetalkacademycom. You'll learn more information about it.
Michelle:One of the mindset I teach and I share with my clients is that you don't want to be on social just to consume content. What you want to do is actually to not being the consumer, but being there to study, to learn. I would say that it's not so much to consume them, it's to research them and see what they did well, like. Sometimes I will read a post and there's so many comments and replies or reaction to it. If I were to be a consumer, I would be there, I would be one of them. I would like, oh, this comment, I want to comment on it. Or I want to like that post, I want to follow that person, I want to do the X, y and Z. So that's being in the consumer mindset. Now, when you are on social and you're following people who maybe they're doing the same niche as you, maybe they have similar program as you, and you realize that, how come that every time they post, there's so many of their clients are just commenting on it? What is it about them? So, instead of consuming their content, I want you to start studying their content. So what you do is you study their content. What worked well for them, learn their strategy right, go around and learn how they did it so that maybe you can turn it and do it for yourself with your own personal magical touch. I'm not saying to copy them, but I'm saying that take what worked well for them and learned it right, learn their strategy of what worked well and turn it into something that has your voice, that has your magic.
Michelle:There's a great book I can't remember the author, but it's called Stealing Like an Artist and I love that book. One of the key concepts behind that stealing like an artist is that a lot of us, the innovation comes because there's someone else who had the innovation and we saw that it sparked something, a light inside of us, and we actually take that idea and turn it into something even more magical. Elizabeth Gilbert, she wrote a book and it's called the Big Magic, and in her book the Big Magic, she also talked about this idea of if you have an idea, right, the idea itself is contagious, and so if you don't act on that idea, someone else is going to find somebody who is more willingly to act on that idea, and I love that because that's what you do in marketing, basically, right, you see a lot of marketers doing the similar things or doing the same thing because it works. It works, but somebody else who comes along and who's great in things that they do. What they do is the same strategy, but they're just taking it into a whole different direction and whole creatively, and they create something even better, something like a better version of that original idea that came from.
Michelle:My point is right. All that is to say that when you're on social, don't be the consumer, study what have worked and try and bring in your own magic, because everything that you do is going to matter and going to pay off later. So if you have this idea of maybe I should start a workshop or maybe I should do a webinar, then go for it. Turn it into your own magical webinar that what you do is going to matter and what that does is. It also gives you clarity and once you get a hang of it, you can start getting more consistent with it. But you got to find what really lights you up, really makes you happy, right? If it's not webinar, is it a podcast? Is it a YouTube channel? Is it something? Or maybe writing a blog, whatever it is right. Find your magic and do more of it and make it something that you do it for fun, make it a game, make it something that you would just challenge yourself and say you know what this sounds like. Fun, I'm going to make it fun and make it yours, and that's how you build consistency.
Michelle:Okay, consistency doesn't mean that just posting every single day. Consistency, it's about wanting to do it, having fun doing it, so that you don't even think about that you have to do it. Right, that's what consistency is. And consistency is also is it aligned with your brand? Is it aligned with your who you are? Is it aligned with your integrity, with your character? Right, there's a lot of things that just simply, the word consistency doesn't cover at all. So when you think about consistency, don't just think about in the logistic term. I need to have the consistency in my messaging. I need to consistently posting. No, it's more than that. Right, it's how you yourself show up the full package. What do you love? Do what actually brings smile on your face when you're actually doing it, and if it is doing webinar, do one more webinar. If it is doing more workshop, do more workshop. But whatever it is, find something that lights you up.
Michelle:Here's the last thing I wanted to talk about on this episode. Is that things as you're waiting about on this episode is that things as you're waiting, there's going to be a moment where you have these self-doubt that creeps in. But don't base on your confidence with what you're currently seeing. Base it on your commitment. Base it on the things that you're willing to do, despite of how challenging it would have been and have been right. Don't base it on the result. A lot of us base our confidence on the result. Oh, I didn't get that client and therefore I'm a failure. I should have my niche figured out by now, because I don't have that. I'm a big failure. So don't base your confidence on your current result. You want to base it on your commitment, on your achievement. So what you want to track is you want to track what you're doing and not just what you're getting. Okay.
Michelle:So when I do my to-do list, when I write down my goals, I don't just write down. I want to have three clients by the end of the month. I write out what is it I'm doing in order to get those five clients? Do I have a website? Do I have a calendar? Do I have a payment plan set up? Do I have a way of taking their money? So all these are the to-dos and not just the tangible, the goals, that how many clients I want to get or not, how much I want to make right. It's not just that. What I'm getting, what I'm doing is going to help me to build my confidence, knowing that every day I'm waking up as I check things off, I'm accomplishing something, and then that accomplishment itself is going to help me to build my confidence, knowing that every step that I take is leading me to getting that first and the next and many more clients. Who's waiting for me out there, right?
Michelle:So make sure that you track what you're doing and not just what you're getting. What you're getting is important, but what you're doing to get what you're getting, that matters even more. So what you want to celebrate is did you send a pitch to somebody? Maybe it's a podcast, maybe it's a media outreach, maybe it's local television or the local newspaper. Have you sent a pitch? Celebrate that. Did you send a follow-up to a conversation that you had? If you did, celebrate that. Did you record a video? If you did check it off, celebrate that.
Michelle:And the result is going to come from your willingness to keep showing up, doing the things that you gotta do so that you are closer to getting to what you're getting, okay. So if it feels like it's taking forever to land your first or the next coaching client, just remember this you are not alone. It takes time and that's totally normal, especially since, I would say, last mid-year, in July or September, things have slowed down for many of us. Okay, many of us are feeling it, we're all all in it, we're on the same boat, okay. So don't feel like you're the only person who's feeling, oh, is it harder to get clients nowadays? Yes, it is, and we're all feeling it. But just be clear of who you're going to help and what problem you're going to solve, and just keep showing up, even when it feels like it's pretty quiet. I promise you it is those moments where, even though it is quiet, you're still doing it and that's what it counts and that is definitely going to pay off. So remember you're not behind. You're right on time.
Michelle:If this episode gave you some clarity or maybe even just a little bit of encouragement, today I would love to hear from you. Okay, take a screenshot of this episode. I would love to hear from you. Take a screenshot of this episode. Tag me at my Instagram, at Elevate Life Coach, and share your biggest takeaway and give me your shout out. And if you're ready to shorten that timeline and start getting more of the high quality coaching client without spinning your wheels on social, definitely go check out my Signature Talk Academy. The enrollment will be opening very soon and until next time, just keep showing up, keep shining and I will see you in the next episode.
Michelle:The next episode. Thank you for listening. To Make it Visible. Podcast. If you love this episode and want deeper support for your coaching business, head over to elevatelifecoachingorg and see how we can partner together to turn your passion into a profitable business. I help female coaches launch and scale their coaching business faster than ever, without wasted time and money, filling the gaps in your marketing strategies, creating a simple and easy to follow system so you can accelerate on the path of coaching business that you love to wake up to. Head over to elevatelifecoachingorg and grab a free strategy audit today.
