How to Get Coaching Clients: It's Not a Leads Problem

If you've been told you need more leads to grow your coaching business, this episode is going to challenge that. Hard.

Brenda Marie Sheldrake, the Biz Leads Expert, best-selling author, and recipient of the 2022 Women of Worth Award, joins Candy Motzek on She Coaches Coaches to talk about what coaches and entrepreneurs actually need to turn connections into clients. She Coaches Coaches reaches listeners in more than 127 countries, and this conversation cuts to the heart of why so many coaches stay stuck despite doing all the right things.

The answer isn't more leads. It's a relationship strategy.

Why Most Coaches Already Have Enough Leads

Here's what Brenda has discovered working with entrepreneurs who pivoted from careers into coaching and business ownership: most of them have plenty of connections. What they don't have is a strategy for turning those connections into lasting business relationships.

Leads without relationships don't convert. They sit there. And coaches spend time chasing more leads instead of nurturing the ones they already have.

Brenda's relationship strategy quiz helps entrepreneurs see exactly where they are in their relationship-building approach and gives them one clear step to move forward. It's the starting point she uses with almost every new client.

This is the foundation of how to get coaching clients - not volume, but depth.

The Stat That Should Stop Every Coach in Their Tracks

Brenda shares a statistic that landed hard in this conversation.

Every hour of every day, at least one entrepreneur closes their doors, gives up on their business and their dream, and goes back to a job.

Not because they weren't talented. Not because there was no market for what they did. Because they ran out of support. Because they forgot their why. Because nobody told them the truth about what entrepreneurship actually looks like.

Brenda's whole business is built around that truth. She serves entrepreneurs who pivoted - people who were great at something, heard the words "you could make a business out of that," and said yes. Then they discovered they also had to be the bookkeeper, the marketer, the social media manager, and still show up fully in every other area of their life.

Nobody told them that part was coming.

The Two Questions That Move Someone From Hopeless to Hopeful

Brenda has a framework she uses in every difficult client conversation. It's two questions.

The first: what's your superpower? What are you really, truly good at?

The second: what's your kryptonite? What's holding you back right now?

She describes a call with a client who was close to giving up. That client was having one of those days where they didn't feel good at anything. Brenda went back to the passion, back to what lit the person up, and then asked the kryptonite question.

As the client started to share, something shifted in Brenda. Ideas started surfacing. Connections. Possibilities. Not because she had a script - because she was genuinely listening.

That's the coaching business mindset Brenda teaches: you're not limited by the other person's negative self-talk. You have your own belief in what's possible for them. That belief is the asset.

That client went from hopeless to hopeful in a single conversation. And Brenda knew she wanted to do that work every day for the rest of her life.

If you want to build a coaching business that creates that kind of result for your clients, start with the free course: Stop Guessing and Start Signing Clients: https://candymotzek.lpages.co/vfo/

What the Passive Income Promise Gets Wrong

Brenda is honest about this in a way that most business coaches aren't.

She drank the Kool-Aid herself. The promise of massive passive income and total time freedom is what pulled her in. And then reality arrived.

Her advice to every early-stage entrepreneur and coach is simple: be prepared for the difficult side. Don't just share the bright side with your clients either. When you only show people the highlight reel, you set them up to feel like failures when the hard days come. And the hard days come for everyone.

Brenda puts it this way: you don't get a good crop without rain. Talk to any farmer and they'll tell you if it doesn't rain, the tomatoes don't come.

This is the kind of honest coaching business mindset work that Candy Motzek builds her whole show around. Strategy and mindset together. Not one without the other.

For a look at what's actually working for coaches right now, download the free Coaching Business Insights Report 2026: https://candymotzek.lpages.co/business-growth-survey/

How to Build a Coaching Business Your Way - Starting With Your Why

Brenda closes the conversation with the one thing she'd say to every pivoting entrepreneur.

Write down your why. Make it real. Don't make it about paying the bills - that's not why you do the thing you love. Write down the life you're going to change. Write down who needs what you bring. And on the days when you don't know why you're still in it, go back and read that why.

Because if you close your doors, you never make that difference. And that matters.

Building a coaching business your way starts with knowing why you're building it at all. That why is what keeps you in when the hard days come. And the hard days come for everyone - including the coaches who look like they have it all figured out.

Ready to stop guessing and start building something that's actually yours? Book a free 30-minute call with Candy: https://stepintosuccessnow.com/

Key Takeaways

• Most coaches don't need more leads. They need a relationship strategy that converts the connections they already have.
• Every hour of every day, at least one entrepreneur gives up and goes back to a job. Support is what keeps coaches in the game.
• Ask two questions: what's your superpower, and what's your kryptonite? Those two answers reveal everything.
• Don't only show people the bright side of entrepreneurship. Honest preparation builds resilience.
• Your why is your anchor. Write it down. Make it about the life you'll change - not the bills you'll pay.

Conclusion

Brenda Marie Sheldrake has built her business around the one thing that actually keeps entrepreneurs going: real relationships, honest strategy, and someone who believes in you on the days you don't believe in yourself.

That's how to get coaching clients. Not by chasing more leads. By building something worth referring.

About Brenda Marie Sheldrake:

Brenda Marie Sheldrake is the Biz Leads Expert, a best-selling author, and recipient of the 2022 Women of Worth Award. She helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses through authentic relationship building that generates qualified leads and lasting clients. With a background in community leadership and entrepreneurship, she teaches practical strategies that turn connections into opportunities and collaborations into real business growth.

Web: https://bizleadsexpert.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-marie-sheldrake-lead-generation/

Free Gift: https://bizleadsexpert.com Relationship Strategy Quiz