#115 - [Q&A] Calorie Audits, Better Check-Ins, & Scaling to 30+ Clients

99% of people do not have some random metabolic disorder or hormonal dysfunction that is causing them to not lose weight despite being in a calorie deficit. And so when they say that it's probably that problem, they probably went to a naturopath who doesn't actually know shit. There's just so many that just want to pedal their supplements and push their weird, woo-woo hippie strategies and information that is not backed by evidence, nor do they have any really legit credentials. (upbeat music) Welcome to the Choose Hard Podcast. I'm your host, Cody McBroom. I am a father, husband, coach, and entrepreneur and the founder of Taylor Coaching Method. A world-renowned online fitness and nutrition coaching company that is helping average people achieve above average physiques and live above average lives. Today is going to be part two of the coaching Q&A. If you listened to a last week's podcast, maybe the week before, depending when we sprinkled in these interviews, that we did, you would have heard part one, part one, I dove into five different questions, go check that episode out if you want to hear those. Today I'm going to dive into, I think I have six that I'm going to try to get through. These are going to hit on everything behind between coaching systems to navigating specific mindsets that clients struggle with, figuring out how to work through the issue of, we'll call it calorie tracking amnesia. All of a sudden, things are missing from the food logs, different things like that. A lot of this is going to stem around difficult conversations you have to have with clients. I think this is going to be super, super valuable for any coach that has been coaching for any amount of time because you would have had at least a few of these conversations by now where it is tough. You have to learn how to call people out without being disrespectful or shaming them or causing guilt or making them feel judgment. There is a very, very delicate way to do this. It is the art of coaching, very passionate about this and we're going to dive into some of those questions today. I think it's also going to be valuable for anybody who is in the client's shoes. Maybe you don't need to figure out how to have a conversation with somebody else, but you need to figure out how to accept that conversation from your coach or maybe have that conversation with yourself literally or maybe in your journal. Either way, there's a lot of times in our lives where we have to call ourselves out and we've got to figure out how to do that too. So I'm going to work through a bunch of these. A couple of them are business system stuff, business as in coaching business. So frameworks for onboarding and check ins and the first 30 days of a client journey and how important that is, it's going to be a good variety of topics. I'm excited to get into this. Before we do though, I just want to give a few quick shout outs to the reason that I am able to continue to do this podcast because none of this stuff is free. Everything in this studio costs a lot of money actually. And we have to have support to keep this going. And the number one support of this is obviously our amazing clients at Taylor Coaching Method. And if you are interested in losing fat building muscle, completely transforming your physique and literally changing your life because of it, and you want a foolproof way that is guaranteed help you do so, go to fatlostransformations.com. I'm going to link that in the description of this podcast. You can head to Taylor Coaching Mentorship to get into the mentorship side of Taylor Coaching Method. So if you are a coach, you listen to this and you're like, damn, I need those systems and I need help actually integrating this stuff. I need help scaling my business without being a corn ball on social media and losing my integrity along the way. Taylor Coaching Mentorship.com, check that out. That is all the information you need for what I believe is becoming the best damn mentorship in the space. Last but not least, shout out to Jaco Fuel, which is the literal sponsor. It's the only actual sponsor of this podcast. And they support all of our supplement needs for the company and for our clients, but also all my caffeine needs to get this podcast done. So go to JacoFuel.com, use of coupon code, choose hard 20 to save 20% off. All right, let's dive into these questions. These questions, they're probably going to take a bit of time. These are not easy quick rapid fire questions. Not many questions are with me, as you know, if you've been a regular listener. Thank you, if you have. But nonetheless, let's take our time. Let's go through them. I actually pulled up some resources that I'm going to dive into to to refer some of these questions. First question. When a client reports a dangerously low calorie intake, but isn't losing a single pound, how do you audit their life to find the missing calories? This is that calorie amnesia. So again, repeating this question from these are again, these are questions that have been sent in through choosehardpodcast.com. You can go to choosehardpodcast.com and fill out the inquiry form. And it just literally you can answer the form by just giving us your questions. It's optional if you want to leave your name or not. But regardless, that is how you get your question answer on this podcast. These have also been asked inside of our mentorship and I pulled them out of there, so it's a mix of the two. So again, what do you do as a coach when your clients are reporting dangerously low calorie intake? So your clients are reporting an extremely low calorie diet, but they are not losing a single pound. What do you do in this situation? Number one, you have to truly assess whether or not they are telling the truth being honest or accurately tracking because it's actually even more frustrating for the client if they think they're accurate and they're not. So imagine meticulously tracking something, be that your finances, be that your nutrition, be that your training. Think of this as it's the same exact principle, actually we see this in the mentorship. An individual who is tracking calories and is not losing any weight is the equivalent of somebody building their business posting on social media constantly and not growing at all. There is a consistent output happening from the individual without any return of investment or input coming back. That is an extremely dangerous place to be in because it leads to burnout. It is extremely exhausting and fatiguing. The business is a separate question we help people with this 'cause I've just seen so many coaches aimlessly posting on social media trying to follow trends and trying to do whatever they can to get views and the views are completely invaluable because I'm not invaluable, they're not valuable at all because they're not targeted views, they're views of random people. I don't care if you throw a wig on and go viral. If those people aren't your ideal client, then what is the purpose? There's a hundred thousand people watch your video and you don't get a single client. What was the point of creating the content to begin with? Right, I create content to help people, to teach people and to get people who need more help from those teachings to coach with us. That is why I post on social media. And if you don't understand that, you're gonna be in the same predicament as a client who is tracking not losing weight. So when we have a client who is tracking and they are reporting to us a dangerously low calorie intake but they're not losing any weight, they are walking a fine line of frustration and they can only tolerate that frustration for so long. So we do have to intervene and try to shift something. The thing to shift first is going to be a very, very strong in articulate or detailed assessment. We have to assess everything. So if I have a client doing this, I want to assess their schedule. I wanna assess their lifestyle, I wanna assess their stressors, I wanna assess their sleep, I wanna assess their training, I wanna assess their food logs especially. And sometimes I'm not going to go in too far of depth with them as far as what they need to do because the last thing I wanna do as a coach to a person who is walking this fine line of frustration is tell them to track their schedule hour by hour and like film their workouts and take pictures of their food and weigh their food and measure it and track it in their food logging app. Oh, and I want you to like, detail like track your sleep with your or an or ring and do this and give me this. It's too much. I'm just gonna ask random questions. How do you sleep? I was stressed and I'm gonna ask them to be honest with you. I'm not gonna do this over a phone call. I'm not gonna do this over a video, a message I'm gonna do this over Zoom ideally 'cause I wanna see their face and I wanna really get to the bottom of what could be potentially causing this issue. So when we go this route, we can start to pick apart what it could be most likely what this is is the person is either a tracking things and not telling us 'cause they feel like they're going to be judged or be they're not tracking things 'cause they don't realize they need to track it or they're tracking incorrectly so they're tracking less than what they're actually consuming. Assuming the first one is, this is more difficult to twese out on a podcast but assuming it's the first one, what we need to do is establish trust and a judgment-free zone with the client. I need to make sure that the client knows I'm not judging them and that they can be honest with me and usually that's gonna happen again face to face or on Zoom and I'm gonna walk through these scenarios. I have to look at their food logs, look at their schedule and determine when do I think this could be happening? Let's say it's the weekend. Hey, I notice these patterns on the weekend. Easy example is all of a sudden, you never hit your protein on the weekends but your calories are really low. Why is that? Because all of a sudden, they're not putting in the snacks, they're not eating their normal meals, they're not getting enough proteins, they're hungry and then I'm snacking and something they don't put it in. Or they track breakfast and lunch and then they forget to track the rest of the day. Okay, well there's a big gap they're missing. I just have to find these things and then I have to call them out. You have to respectfully call the person out because it's most likely this issue. Next we have to look at what they are tracking to determine if it's accurate or not. You have to look through their food logs and you have to see, are they tracking foods that are net carbs? So their macros are off, their calories are off. If you look at the net carbs, only usually they adjust the calories based on that. Right, so they'll show the calories based on the macros on the food label but not anything but the net carbs. Net carbs, I'm sorry, but they're still calories. So I've seen this happen many times where somebody's eating like a keto bagel or a low carb, like a high fiber tortilla or something and they're like, it's only 100 calories. like I have. actually let's do the math. It is 190 calories. You had two of those that day and you got some other snacks that are like this too. It adds up. And now they're actually eating two, three, four hundred calories more than they thought. I've watched people do this and me go, hey, let's just switch it for Whole Fruit for a little bit so we know this is actually accurate and they start losing weight every week. The big key here is identifying what it is, teaching them why this is wrong and how this is actually negatively impacting the results and then reminding them that this is totally normal. A lot of people go through this and there's nothing wrong with you making this mistake. They have to feel like it's okay. I have to show them some grace and I can't point them out and like single them out and make them feel stupid for it. That is the biggest and most important thing to focus on right there. Then once we shift them, I'm not going to say forever, hey, you really like those bagels, you really like those tortillas, you like eating these artificial thing. That's fine. I don't care. It's just the same thing with eating out. Like if somebody is eating out a lot and they're reporting lower, they're probably estimating what they eat and they're probably way underestimating because you should always overestimate and then some when you eat out at a restaurant for macros. I will look at that and go, hey, this isn't a forever thing but for the next two weeks, can you commit to not eating out a restaurant? You know, pay for the next three weeks, 21 days. Can we avoid all these net carb, high fiber kind of keto products or whatever? That's the easy thing for everybody to do and I go, hey, all I want to do with this is I want to be able to truly assess your diet and I can't with these inaccurate things. We can bring them back in once we have more information but we don't have that information yet. We need to assess your diet, your metabolism, your body composition first without those things in place. Once they do that, then we can move them back into eating those things but most of them they don't want to because once they shift, they feel better on Whole Foods, they enjoy the Whole Foods and they're getting results and that's the biggest thing. People see that and they go, I don't want to change anything if it's working. Great. We don't have to go back to those weird high fiber keto foods. Point is, when a client reports dangerously low calorie intake but isn't losing a single pound, how do I audit their life? I look at everything that could be causing them to inacrally measure and it could be as simple as seasonings and oils. Hey, you're spraying the pan with olive oil. It says it's zero calories. It's one third of a second. That is not zero calories. Okay, it's that because they can round up or down if they're within 20%. They put one third of a second because nobody does that and that allows them to be within 20% of zero calories so they can say that it's zero calories on label. Food seasoning, same thing. You get seasoning one of the first ingredients to sugar or if it's everything but the seasoning, there's sesame seeds in it and the first one of the first ingredients is a seed which is a fat. There's a lot of calories in there but nobody's eating one third of a teaspoon or whatever the serving size is. Same exact principle. So we look at these things and we go, hey, you're actually consuming a couple hundred extra calories at least just in these random seasonings and oils. We have to track these. I would rather give somebody more calories to play with. We'll go, hey, you've been eating this oil. That's totally fine but what I need to do is actually start just pouring all the oil out of a normal bottle measuring it on a scale and we're going to give you an extra five grams of fat a day, extra 10 grams of fat a day. We can drop those back down but we have to establish that baseline first and it's easier to give them more calories to fit in the same oil than say, hey, you're actually been over here and we're going to cut out this other stuff. We get that accuracy first then we pull the calories. Same thing with seasons. Let's show them how to find a zero calorie, truly zero calorie seasoning. This could also be measurement. I've seen a lot of people go, they on their food log it says that they did the nut butter and it was 15 grams or 16 grams. I'm like, oh, so did you actually weigh out 16 grams? I'm like, no, I did a tablespoon but a tablespoon is 16 grams. Yeah, but your tablespoon probably isn't. So let's do the weight on scale. Everything gets weighed on the scale and grams. Everything you consume and we have to be very, very diligent about this. You have to go piece by piece through this. Then you have to go through their weekend and see what it's like. Hey, if you're overeating on the weekend, that's fine. I have date night every single Saturday with my life. I definitely eat more calories than I'm allotted. Track it so we know how many more calories you're consuming so that I can adjust your plan to allow you to still do that on the weekend and be more productive during the week to get the result frame it that way. They will do it. So I have to go through everything and I have to assess their diet meticulously. I have to teach them how to track properly. I have to educate them on what foods can be slipping through the cracks to give them more calories. And then I have to give them autonomy to be able to do it on their own. Right. And that's where accountability comes into play. So that's ultimately how I address this because nine times out of 10, they like 99% of people, if not more, maybe 99.9% of people do not have some random metabolic disorder or hormonal dysfunction that is causing them to not lose weight despite being in a calorie deficit. There is very, very few. I don't know of many if any metabolic disorders or disorders in general that will cause somebody to lose weight while being in a calorie deficit unless they are literally malnutrition. Right. I'm sorry, not lose weight. So gain weight. It doesn't happen. Usually a lot of those like celiac and stuff, they actually cause malnutrition. You can't absorb or hold on to weight. So you actually lose weight rapidly. It just doesn't happen. People don't have that problem. And so when they say that it's probably that problem, they probably went to a natural path who doesn't actually know shit. Sorry if there's any naturopaths listening. I pray that you're one of the good one out of a million that are good. There's just so many that just want to pedal their supplements and push their weird woo-woo hippie strategies and information that is not backed by evidence nor do they have any really legit credentials. This is where a lot of that kind of shit comes from and it's not correct or it's some random guru online that calls himself a functional nutritionist and says there are hormone specialists and doesn't actually have anything backed by legitimate research in order to support those kind of claims that they're they're giving. So there's a lot of different routes we go to handle that or to accomplish that. But at the end of the day, it's always aligned with finding the inaccuracies within the diet and then troubleshooting that with them and making it so that they don't feel judged as they do it. Okay, next question we go into is a framework around the psychology of clients and coaching clients. So with this, the exact question is can you break down exactly when and how to deploy specific psychological tools with a client? This came from some of the strategies we use, the urge or we have some stuff around like rewiring stories in my mind sets of an individual using their past experience and reflection tools and then actually being able to change the story with affirmations and prompts. We also have something around what we call frustration tolerance. We have another one or we have a lot of this stuff around identity based coaching. We have the flicker flip or phylo model. There's a lot of different things that we teach inside the mentorship and we put into the certification that we'll be launching soon. And it's all based around this identity based coaching is what we call it. So that is kind of where this question is stemming from. But again, the question specifically is as a coach, how do you figure out or know exactly when to deploy different psychological practices, tools or strategies with a client so that they start to shift their mindset? How do we know when it is the right time to actually go deep and start asking these questions and getting a little bit more personal? If you've been a trainer for a long time, you probably know at one point in time a professor or a educator or somebody told you or maybe you read it and your certification that you took your weekend CPT certain thing. Stay in your scope of practice, right? There's a lot of people that will say like you have to stay within your scope of practice. The reality is is when you get into the real world of coaching, there is no scope of practice. I mean, there is you can't be like obviously certain things. There's legally bounding like walls. You can't prescribe certain things. But there's nothing inside of our profession that says we can't ask questions about personal life. We can't have a deep conversation, right? We should be able to do those things if they are willing to go that route. So with this question, how do I like when do we decide to deploy these specific psychological tools with a client? Immediately basically. So our perspective on this starts in the very beginning actually. So our framework around this changes depending on the client. So we have a framework for rewiring what is going on in their head. We have a framework for working through urges. We have a framework for handling cravings in the moment. We have a framework for basically teaching people to sit with frustration. We call it frustration tolerance. And like a lot of this is reframing. The frameworks are basically teach them to reframe the scenario and the situation so that they look at it with a different viewpoint and perspective. A perspective that actually serves them in that situation. Not one that actually makes them sink and wallow away in it, which causes them to give in or be more frustrated. Frustration tolerance is the idea that you sit with your frustration and you train yourself to be frustrated and still move forward because in life you have to. I can be extremely upset, sad, hurt, angry. I still got to come into the office and do my job. I still got to record this podcast on a regular basis. Right? Like everything's a choice technically but I still got to do these things. Some stuff is a stronger choice than others but some things this is life. I still have to work. I still have to be a dad. I still have to be a husband. I still have to do those things. If my emotions are not allowing me to do those things that I have to do that I signed up to do that I'm proud to do, that's when it becomes an issue. So how do we teach somebody to sit with the frustration, accept it and still do those things despite being frustrated? Essentially what that means is we're teaching them to control their life, their mindset, their scenario instead of letting the things that happen control their mood, mindset, emotions. Anyway we have all these frameworks for these things but what I would say is really simple to answer this question in a very concrete and kind of punchy way and brief way. Number one, this starts at the very, very beginning. So when somebody signs up with us, we go through core values. It's like, let's talk about core values. What is it, and what does this look like to you? Like what are your values? What do you stand for? Why do you want to stand for that? Why is this important to you? How are you showing up in day to day life? Are you showing up in a way that aligns and matches with this idea and this way of being? If the answer's not yes, we have to teach you to do so. More than anything what this does opens their eyes to how important this is. This is not us saying you have to be perfect right away. Or you have to come into this coaching program, which you signed up for to lose weight and focus on training and nutrition. You got to know your core values right away. We teach you these things. We want you to open your mind and learn these things because that is what is ultimately going to hold you accountable long term. So the first step is really just teaching them why core values are important. Your values basically create these rules and standards that you will operate by. Your rules and standards are a new way of living that are in alignment with the values that you say are important and the things that you want to embody as a human and as a person. And if we have those written down and locked in and we create standards off of it, the best thing that happens from there is you have this intrinsic ability to stay motivated, disciplined, and accountable to the program we are running. You need to have some autonomy in this. You have to be accountable internally, not just if I'm holding your hand. So we start right there by teaching them why these are important, setting these values, and then beginning to lead in them in coaching with these standards of mind. How we deploy them along the way is making sure that we're asking questions on a regular basis in their client updates to ensure that we are essentially quizzing them a little bit. We are trying to get them to reflect on these values and reflect on how they are showing up and how they are going through the protocols and how they are showing up in the gym and for the family and for themselves and their mindset, and then ask the question of, does this align with the values that you set? Are you abiding by the standards that you created with us? If so, you have integrity. If not, you don't have integrity. And as humans, we feel very unaligned and distraught to an extent. We do not feel right when we lack integrity, especially when it's integrity with what we set. Because integrity is ultimately following through with what you said you would do, and it's being honest and doing the right thing. But when that integrity is called integrity tie down, when we're tying them down to their own integrity, that's when it becomes really powerful. This is not me attacking or judging because they set the values, they determine the standards, they hired us to reach their goals. So it's a very safe way to go about this. It is very, I can't do this on a podcast, but it is a very strategic way we go about it to make sure that we are helping them set these standards, rules and core values. It's not as simple as, what are your core values? It's not going to work if you don't teach it properly. And there's a lot to that part. But essentially, the way I believe this should be done is I think from the very start, you need to set the values, have them determine the standards with you, and then give you permission to hold them accountable of those. And then it's your weekly communication, your weekly check-in points that allow you to step in and challenge the way they're showing up, and ask if they are in alignment with the values to make sure that they are, because you're holding them accountable of what they said, they want to become and or who they want to become and what they want to do. Okay. Next question, how do you structure check-in calls so they don't feel like a corporate performance review or a bad grade? Is the classic compliment sandwich framework dead? Okay. So essentially, as a coach, how do you do check-ins? I mean, that's ultimately what the question here is. And how I would want to frame this answer so that you get a lot out of it. And I'm actually going to pull up some of my notes to this is teaching you exactly how online coaches should be checking in with clients because if they do not do this, if you're an online coach and you don't check in with your clients in this type of way, you are going to get passed by as we move closer to 2027 and beyond. Because the future of online coaching requires behavior change because you are working with somebody. I mean, really, really thinking about this. If you are an online coach, if you're an online coach, especially working with fat loss people, but you're a coach working with fat loss clients who are seeking your help to change the way they eat so that they can lose weight and you're remote, you're an online coach. So your clients are not face to face with you. They're spread out around the country, maybe even the world. How are you supposed to coach them in a way that is so impactful that from across a country, you can shift their behaviors, get them to change their habits and actually follow consistently the guidelines and the protocols that you give them, knowing they don't want to. They came to you because I don't want to eat healthy. I don't do this consistently. I'm not staying accountable to myself. I want this goal, but I don't want the process enough. The process seems too difficult, so I'm not staying consistent. That's a hard thing to work through. That's why you had to work on behavior change. So part of the check-in process has to go back to the psychological frameworks we use, but there's also a very specific process with these pillars that we have in place to make sure that the check-in process is kind of checking these certain boxes. So I'm actually going to go into this and pull up some slides that, like on my screen, that are directly from the certification. And I'm going to breeze you these because I have a whole module on just one part of the check-in and it's an hour long. So we go very in-depth, but the, the, what did you, then you called a shit sandwich, what did they call it? The compliments in it, which, that's a nicer way to put it. I call it a shit sandwich. There's bread and there's shit in the middle. So it's praise, correct, praise. That's still good. You want to basically start the check-in, just like you would give a coaching cue to somebody doing a deadlift. You come into it with praise of how they're doing good, what is going well, what you're excited about. Then you give them correction and then you finish with praise again, you start in finish on a positive note because they will utilize that, that correction in the middle, that they need a lot better and they're more likely to listen to it and actually fulfill it. Now, part one of any good check-in is the high energy opening. You have to walk into this being fired up because at the end of the day, and this is, I'm not going to get into too much detail on each of these pillars, but I want to make sure that each part of this is delivered in a way that you understand it's important at least, maybe not every little detail nuance. But inside of the check-in, you're stepping into a loom video or a zoom call. We recommend zoom calls with a lot of our coaching clients. I do loom check-ins personally because of my schedule and just being the CEO, there's a lot of moving parts. I don't have time to do zoom calls all the time like that. But I do like jumping on the phone with my clients as often as I can. With my coaches, we do recommend doing these zoom calls because it is, most people, they just respond better to them, they like them more. And you can set those up, they're 15 minute check-ins, they're really simple. Now, the point of this is, is when you walk into that call or that recording, you have to be the positive light, you have to have a lot of energy, you have to be hyped up. If you're not more excited about what you're about to say and the results they're about to get, then they are in that moment, there's an issue. You're the coach, this is what you do and what you're passionate about. They came to you for that energy and there's a good chance that there might not be much else going on in their life that's positive. At the end of the day, when you hire a coach, you're usually in a situation that kind of sucks. You're not happy with something. And there's a lot of times still, we have people that jump on board that do love life and they are happy, but they're just working on their health and that's great too. But the point is, there's a chance that's not true. There's a chance that they don't got much else going on. Maybe they don't have a family, maybe they don't have a bunch of friends, maybe they don't have anything positive, maybe they hate they job, maybe they had a terrible day. Whatever it is, you're the only guaranteed positive thing supposed to be in their life. Show up and show up positive and show up excited and hyped up. The second part of this is going over the data and having a strategy. So you got to be very transparent and real. So shoot it to them straight. Look at the data, be very transparent about what you're seeing. If it's good, great. If it's bad, tell them it's not good. Do not sugar code it. Do not show them too much grace. If you show grace because you're trying to make them feel safe, that's awesome. You want a creative safe environment. But if you're showing so much grace that it's not creating any type of discipline, they will not respect you enough to actually create the changes you need. So when you discipline a child, it sounds like a very negative thing, but going back to the root words and the meaning of disciplining somebody, it's not punishment, it's teaching. To discipline somebody is to teach them how to work through things that are not good. So if I'm disciplining my daughter, it's not because she's a bad kid, it's because she made a mistake and it could be a harmless mistake. But if I don't discipline that mistake, I can't teach her how to grow up properly. Okay, it doesn't mean I'm mean, it doesn't mean I'm like beating my child or doing something crazy. It just means that I am showing her a better way to do this and to grow up the right way. Client to the same thing. If I don't discipline them for what they're doing incorrectly, they won't change it. If they don't change it, then they're paying for nothing. That is what they're hiring us for. Okay, so we have to understand that. So I have to look at the data, I have to show them what I'm seeing and then I have to tell them what is not where I want it to be and I have to have a strategy. So I'm refining the strategy based on the data I see and I have to articulate that in a very simple way that is not over their head, doesn't over complicate things and it allows them to actually take action. action on it. Then I'm going to validate autonomy. So this is really pushing them to have self correction. We're big on this because if I reassure the client that their intuition of what they think is right, and if I ask the right questions, this is part of it, the questions in the check-in should get them to reflect and project their next steps before I even get a chance to talk to them. So that when they're filling out the questionnaire or the check-in form, they're actually starting to troubleshoot on their own and figure things out and put the pieces together. Because again, like a teacher, I'm trying to educate the person on how to do this. They are not going to coach with me for the rest of their life. They're going to coach with me for a while because our attention is really high. So we have a great experience. But at some point, they're going to go on their own. So I do have to get them to start thinking on their own. When they start thinking on their own, I need to validate what they're thinking as a good part of it. This is a part of it that is praise. I have to show them, hey, the way you're thinking, what your mind's working, the way you're starting to articulate these things, the way you're starting to form these habits on your own. This is amazing. This is what we want. This is where you're correct. I'm going to give you some advice on a couple of these things. But I love the way you're doing this here. I have to validate and confirm what they are thinking and the progress they're already making. Then I have to move into actual marching orders and really get to ignite their fire. I have to motivate them a little bit. But I have to give them one to three non-negotiables. What are you going to do this week? There's two sides of this. Number one is actually giving them actions to follow. One to three things that they can do to start building on the progress and start making more progress. And then at least one of those has to be followed up with a question. I need them to respond to me for two reasons. I need them to respond to this check and to let me know. Does this make sense? If I don't know that it makes sense, then I can't guarantee they're going to move forward with it. That is not only a confirmation on my end to make sure that I explain it, right? It's a confirmation of commitment on their end. Because when they say this totally makes sense, sounds good. That is them saying, Coach, I got it. I'm going to take action on it. That is a verbal confirmation that they're going to do what they need to do to move forward. And that goes back to the integrity tie down. That's their integrity. They're saying it. And they're telling me, I will do X, Y, Z. I'm going to expect that follow through, especially if we set their core values in the beginning of the coaching experience, which actually holds them accountable of that. Then I'm going to just motivate them. I want to get hyped up again. I'm going to finish with the same hype that I started with. You do that. That is a four part framework for a client check-in. There are a lot of nuances in that. Part of what we do inside the certification and what we do inside our mentorship is teach this stuff. I can't break it all down in a podcast. I'm going to be honest. Otherwise, I would. I would love to teach you. But also some-- some shit's not free. Yes, I got it. Taylor coaching mentorship.com. But the point is, is we go through very specific questions within this framework to teach them. Because when I'm teaching them these things, I'm trying to get them to have these self-determining answers and questions that lead them in the right direction before I even have to respond. And I get their mind thinking in a new way. And I'm rewiring things. It's all around the type of questions we ask. We have spent so much time and effort into asking the best questions possible and asking a sequential series of questions, meaning the type of questions where we're hitting on these certain categories in a certain sequence for a certain reason. And it's going to open their mind to the next steps. That is really what we're trying to do here. So hopefully that answers that question really good. I'd spend a little bit more time than I anticipate on that one. But I love breaking down the systems of that kind of step. All right, next one is on Turn. Turn being retention. Turn rate is a retention score. So this is about designing the perfect beginning journey essentially. So the question is, what specific milestones need to happen in the first 30 days of a client's journey to completely eliminate buyers, remorse, and guarantee they stay long term? So I'm actually going to pull up some slides from Ariel's presentation. As you're listening to this podcast, it is already done. If you're listening to this and you didn't see it on my Instagram, go follow me on Instagram @CodyMcBroom and make sure you make me a-- I think you can turn notifications on or something like that. The reason for that is, yes, I want more engagement, of course. But I'm not just trying to trick you into engaging with my shit more. I post these on my story and I send them out to my newsletter. So if you're not on my newsletter, you'd have to sign up for one of the free lead magnets that are more coaching business focus. Or you got to wait for me to do it on my story. But we do these webinars and Ariel's doing one next week as I'm recording this. So it'll be too late by the time you listen to this. If we decide to post the recording up, which we probably won't, I'll be honest, but there is some other free lead magnets you can get. Just check out the description of this podcast and it'll probably show you that. Back to the question. As an online coach, what are some specific milestones you need to have in place and you should be getting your client to go through and check off the boxes with within the first 30 days of their client journey so that they can last longer. And our philosophy is actually the whole idea and the concept is in this presentation. We say the first 30 days determines the next 300 days because we have a retention rate for at least 14 months, typically. That's our goal is, you know, like there's, of course, people who stay, you know, six, seven, eight months. And our coaching commitment is only four months. We don't require longer than that, but we just find that people stay and it's four of a bunch of different reasons. But there's a few main components that I think play into this. Now, part of the question that actually came in was asking about like, buyers or Morse. I think the best way to eliminate buyers or Morse is to have a really good automated system as soon as they sign up because as humans, we need something immediately tangible. So if I pay for something, I want to get, even like the simple answer or way of thinking about this is if you order something online and you don't immediately get an order confirmation email, it's like a red flag. You're like, where the hell is that? I want a confirmation. Like you want to know, where do I click to see the shipping, to track the shipping and when it's going to be here and to know that it worked and to charge my card. Like you need that confirmation. With coaching, you get the order confirmation but you also need some kind of tangible product, right? So for us, what we like to do is just make sure that they're getting congratulated and that we have something go through right away. So like if somebody signs up with us, they're going to get an automated email that already gives them the questionnaire and enters them into the mentorship group or if it's with our coaching, they're going to get right into our Taylor Coach method app to work with us. The coach is going to reach out. We are coaches personally reach out within an hour. We're really good about this. We don't have it automated. We have everything else automated but I think there's something special about a personalized message and actually being the person you're working with. And so we can't guarantee it happens immediately because it's really happening. So it's happening that day, but it's usually happened within a few hours. But the fact that we're reaching out and saying we're pumped, congratulations, you took a big step. They already got the onboarding email. They already got access to the app. They're starting to see the resources. They see the questionnaire. They're already getting something tangible and then they get a personalized text and congratulations from their coach. I think that's a really special piece that allows us to eliminate that virus remorse. And the only reason why a remorse happens is not because they regret it necessarily and some people don't get it at all. But the only reason this tends to happen is because you doubt that you made the right decision and if somebody's doubting they made the right decision especially when it's their health, it's because they don't feel worthy or that they should be spending that money on themselves which is very common especially with mothers because they put everybody first. It's the most noble thing about them. But if they're like, "Ah, I shouldn't be spending this money on me. "I should go towards my kids "or just go to my husband or my wife. "I shouldn't be doing this." Which is all bullshit. You gotta take care of yourself but that is a very common thing. So that congratulations is big. Now when we look at this from a standpoint of how do we breaking this down? There is a few different things that we go through. So I think that there is three main components that we have to think about within the first 30 days. Now there's of course aspects of getting results. I think if you don't get results within the first 30 days that would be a fourth thing. Probably the number one thing. Only because they have to see something within the first 30 days. Not because again, we require a four month minimum so it's not because we were worried about them quitting but we know they're gonna be more successful for the next three months and then they're probably gonna stay beyond that four month period if they actually get great results. Okay, 'cause that's what they paid for. So aside from the obvious, get your clients some goddamn results and then have a quick automated onboarding process so they get something tangible right away after signing up. There's three main things and these are spent across the seven stops within the first 30 days. So this I'm actually taking directly from the presentation but when we look at a client's journey we have to understand during a client's journey what is actually involved? What stops do we make along the way that we can actually influence their behavior, influence their experience? 'Cause if we're trying to influence the client's journey a lot of people get stuck because they don't stop to think about what are their stops along the way? They gotta sign up then they get on a call and once they get on a call, that's a part of the experience, right? So once they actually, it starts with what they follow you on Instagram then that goes to the application form, their experience with the application form, then they submit it, then they get some kind of thank you page or confirmation, then they book a call. They have an experience with booking the call. Is it easy to book a call? Do they get a nurture sequence? Does something tell them how excited the coach is to talk to them between the point where they apply to the point they get on the phone? Do they have any information that happens before the phone call to make them more confident, secure about the phone call they're about to have? How's the phone call? That's another thing. Once we get to this point, we have payment and activation. So they have paid, they have activated, then they should get something. So this payment and activation goes, I paid something happens. This is the whole process I already talked about to eliminate buyers from ours. They get, Something right away the coach reaches out all that kind of stuff. Then there's gonna be an onboarding call Ideally this happens within the first few days and this is where the client signed up They filled out question everything now. It's like hey the coach is getting on the phone And we are actually talking to them and working them through this process What are we about to do? What are you about to get into? Let's create a clear vivid picture and roadmap to your goal so you understand what you're about to do with us So on and so forth That's number two then we go into the first wins This is stop three we want to make sure that we are getting some little wins right away so that they feel like there's getting this Positive feedback loop. They're engaging. They're following orders. They do something good and win, right? They engage they follow orders. They win engage follow orders win and when I say follow orders I mean just they get their guided we're coaching them Number four the first check in so now we've onboarded them. They got a couple wins now We're having their first legit check in ideally those continue to follow in the sequence So we keep getting wins and we keep doing these check-ins after that we have the refused to failure This is a process where we have to really work through the difficult moments with them And we want to do this within the first 30 days because they're going to be there But we have to show them they can do this This is what's going to establish self belief for the long haul I want to make sure that they understand they have full control and power over accomplishing this goal Let me work through these difficult moments with them to prove that to them Then we have the three ours window This is where we start to I'm gonna actually go to this side and kind of break this down results referrals retention so We have five ours in our business module when we look at this from a results referrals retention This is what where we're really trying to create such a good experience that they are getting results And that's leading to referrals and retention. They are in a position where it's kind of like this honeymoon phase So the referrals are actually really high during that first 30 to 60 days now They don't have to have amazing results and see a full transformation to leave a good review or Centus referrals they can do that within that period if you're doing the right thing So that's that's number six and then the last one is the momentum lock and this is day 30 This is where we've gone all the way to the end of the 30 days and we're really trying to create enough proof and Establish enough success within the first 30 days that we're we're showing them what we can do going forward now The three main things within this are or what I'm about to lay out and the first thing is the ultimate goal We have to make sure they set an ultimate goal in the beginning and it's very very clear of what they're gonna accomplish and when they're gonna accomplish it We have a formula for this Action plus current position plus desired result plus deadline. So verb action plus from X right from your current position plus To desired result Y and then buy what deadline this sounds very confusing when I'm just voicing it So if you're listening and not watching that's gonna be thing, but here's some examples lose body fat from 200 pounds to 185 pounds by my birthday Build five pounds muscle from 180 to 185 pounds by January 2025 This would be 2027. Let's say Improve protein target consistent. Let's see from three out of seven days to six out of seven days in the next 30 days What this is is the action they're gonna take the point they're gonna go from to So again lose body fat is the action. I'm going to lose body fat And I'm gonna go from current position 200 pounds to desired result 185 pounds by the deadline of my birthday This ultimate goal formula makes it very hyper specific This is the best way to get people locked in from day one because they have to know what they're actually chasing and what they're doing The second thing is to sweat the small stuff. I love this quote. This sounds very funny in the first time I heard her say it I was like, make sure that's how it goes In teaching they say don't let the kids see you smile in the first month Sounds hilarious, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it What we're trying to do is not let them get away with stuff initially they are learning what is expected so in the beginning They are seeing what they can get away with they're pushing the boundaries This is what kids do when they're young so that they can figure out what is okay and what's not and then they eventually learn We do this as humans all the time so when we get a coach we will push the boundaries We will check in late we will do things our own way We won't follow the protocol exactly by the way that they want us to and if the coach doesn't stand firm And actually sweat the small stuff by holding that standard now they can walk all over and they can do it how they want to do it That is not how they are going to get the best success. They will not continue to progress if they do it this way So what we need to do is make sure that we do sweat the small stuff We don't let them get away with things in the beginning because they gave us their values They determined their own standards and then we showed them our expectations so that they know how to follow this Accordingly this is not because we're trying to be drill sergeants this because we're trying to get them a result And if we want to get them a result the right way We have to make sure that there are standards in place and they know they have to follow these standards and abide by these principles We are setting out for them if they want to get results, okay? Then then the third thing is holding that standard and I already kind of alluded to that but we don't want to just be nice Okay, we want to show grace but not too much grace. We don't want to be walked all over We have to hold the standard Comfort does not lead to success comfort will not create results period They know that But until you hold the standard and show them that you know it too They will not abide by that because nobody wants to get uncomfortable We need accountability to step into discomfort if you tell somebody Like you know success is found on the On outside of your comfort zone or you got to step out of your comfort zone to be successful stuff Everybody like yep, you're right 100% I agree But they're not stepping into their you know discomfort. They're not stepping out of their comfort zone on a regular basis Are they they need somebody to push them out of their comfort zone? That's your job Okay, so you got to have the the right way of setting the ultimate goal you have to Sweat the small stuff and not let the little things slip up initially And then you have to hold the standard so that they know how to follow protocols These things need to happen right away in order to have a very successful Initial 30 days of a client journey Okay, I got two more questions left for this one that I'm going to cruise through Um in the first one is about scaling live calls As in checking goals. This is a very easy one to answer actually The question is are weekly 15 minute live calls actually feasible when you scale past 30 clients Or should they be completely replaced by loom videos? How do you balance a client's preference for long video responses with your own sanity? um So there's a few things I'm gonna just i'm gonna speak in kind of like blanket statements because this is where It does take a little bit of coaching to get through this number one Answer the question directly or weekly 15 minute live calls actually feasible when you scale past 30 clients Yes, I've watched my coaches have 50 clients doing check-ins live on zoom with all of them before It's it's it's absolutely doable Um should they be completely replaced by loom videos? No should some of them be loom videos? Yes Should it be up to you as the coach? No Why I say that is because you should give your client the choice There should be standards and processes around this Sunday an email got will won't be an email to be a message through your software because if you're doing stuff In email and then you have a software and then they're doing their training over here and then their nutrition over here You're just scattered. They're gonna be confused Send them message on Sunday. Let's say it's automatic so that you don't have to work on Sunday as a coach It gives them the opportunity to book a call This is your chance to book a call this link will expire if you do not book a call for your update I will assume you want a loom video and that's totally fine You have to book now and then you have very specific spots. They're all 15 minutes. They know it's 15 minutes You hold the standard of 15 minutes If you need to give them extra five minutes everyone's well, that's fine You block them out every 20 minutes so that you have no choice but to go five minutes over or none at all And the moment they like if Sunday finishes or like let's say Monday by 6 a.m. finishes without them booking the call The the link is terminated and you will now do their check and be a loom some people are traveling and they're busy They're doing stuff they want the loom video. That's fine You have to set it up that way so that they can choose their preference and then also it allows you to meet them where they're at based on how they receive information best Number two, well that was number two number one is yes, you can scale past 30 clients doing that um Number the three is how do you balance a clients preference for long video responses with your own sanity? Um, they don't want a long video response. They want you to give them a clear cut answer to their problems and a solution That they can understand the reason your loom videos are long or because of one of two things either a you're just rambling and ranting So when you ramble because you feel like you're providing value or you just like talking people which is fine That's why I have his podcast so I can just ramble But a lot of times coaches ramble and ramble because they essentially what they're doing is They're trying to cover up the fact that they're not articulate with their responses They don't have a strategy in a plan or a framework of how to coach somebody in that session based on their update form So what they do is they just start spitting out information Trying to provide random details and information to hope that the client perceives them as intelligent and perceives this as valuable information in education But nine times I'd 10 you're just rambling and just throwing random stuff at the wall and none of it sticks because they don't know what you said the whole time They don't change and Tell me I'm wrong, but before you do look at your client who you do that with and ask and tell me if they're seeing fast progress They're probably not uh if you can't easily see I did this check-in They made this action and got this result then you're just rambling Number two, they don't want those long ass things. They just need you to explain better The reason they go long is because you tell them something they don't get it you tell them again They still don't get it you tell them again. They still don't get it Explaining things in a simple strategic way so it doesn't click with them because you're not using analogies and stories and frameworks That actually register in the brain. They are not a nutritionist. They are not a trainer So they don't know the jargon that we understand. What they do understand is human psychology, whether they realize it or not. Stories, analogies, frameworks, acronyms, these things help people learn faster. It's why they use this stuff in school. Why do you think they use for math problems for kids? Johnny had five apples in his lunchbox, pale. Suzy stole one and Johnny threw one over the fence. How many apples does he have left? Three. It's a math problem. They use the story of visual representation to make it click. You don't have to have snares like that with your clients. But the point is, you have to have a better way of coaching so that it doesn't go long. Because I promise nobody wants to watch a 30 minute frickin' loom video. 15 minutes is long. Okay, and sometimes you have to go that long. And for a phone call, it's not that long. But even then, that is more than enough time. And you can't scale and be successful if you do any longer. So that's the rapid fire way of answering that. I'm going to crank this one last one out because we're running out of time here. Drawing the line on standards. This is the last question. When is it appropriate to be flexible with a client versus holding a strict line, like canceling a call if they haven't completed their onboarding tasks? This is the, these last two are actually really simple. People respect other people who hold standards and have values. You have to establish the values, expectations, and standards from day one. If the standard for them to follow this is to turn in their checking on this day. And your rule is that if they don't by this time, they get one warning, three warnings if you want, whatever it is. You have to determine the problem is if you don't say any of the above, they don't know, they'll push that line and there's no line to push. So you look like a dickhead trying to lay down a standard that wasn't established. You got to establish that from the beginning. This is what it's do. This is one of my responses. This is like how long it will take me at most or if you're doing Zoom calls. This is when you're going to be there. If you do not show up, this is what happens. There has to be some kind of standard to hold. Okay, so really what when is it appropriate to be flexible with a client? Be flexible with an client when it's sincere. Somebody gets on a car accident on their way to their office when they were going to take the call with you in the office. Don't be dick like sympathize with them. When somebody forgets, when somebody is not respecting the standard, you don't ignore them, you don't be mean, but you do have to call it out. You do have to hold that standard and it's best if you do it from the beginning. And if you show up as a coach with integrity and you show up as a coach who has values and holds the standard and walks the walk, that is the biggest thing. If a coach sees that you are in shape and you are doing the work, I know that sounds very me head like and just simple, but when they see that you are doing what you ask them to do and you are living proof of it, they will be way more likely to follow the process you're laying out for them and respect the boundaries and the standards that you set. Because it's proof that it works and they respect somebody who holds high standards for themselves and actually follows through with them. So part of it is doing it yourself. Part of it is laying down those standards from the beginning and then always holding them to that. But giving them a warning, maybe two, because everybody makes mistakes. And of course, show grace when somebody does has a bad day, and especially if it's something serious like a car crash or whatever, should happens. So those kind of things, we go through situation by situation inside the mentorship. So again, I know there's a lot of plugs for that, but tailorcoachingmentorship.com. You can check it out, see what we do, see some of the testimonials. They're really good. But I hope this podcast was beneficial to the clients and the coaches listening. Any questions you want to ask me for this show on the next Q&A, go to choosehardpodcast.com. And leave us a five star rating review if this helped you share it with a friend. It's free information. If you know somebody who could use this, share it on Instagram so we can spread the word. I appreciate you so much for listening. I will catch you next time.