Kirsten and Amanda Podcast

Turning Conversations into Clients: The Art of Building a Thriving Coaching Practice

December 20, 202431 min read
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Turning Conversations into Clients: The Art of Building a Thriving Coaching Practice

When you think about building a successful coaching business, what comes to mind? Perhaps you picture powerful marketing campaigns, meticulously crafted offers, or endless hours of content creation. While these are valuable tools, leadership and performance coach Kirsten Schmidtke offers a refreshing perspective: authentic connection is the cornerstone of success.

In a recent episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, Kirsten shared her journey and strategies for turning conversations into clients, illustrating how a focus on relationships can transform your coaching practice. Whether you’re just starting or looking to take your coaching to the next level, here are the key takeaways that will inspire and empower you.


Start with Relationships

At the heart of a thriving coaching business is genuine relationship-building. Kirsten emphasized that the foundation of her success stems from fostering trust and connection. “Coaching is all about relationships,” she said. “It’s about meeting people where they are, listening deeply, and understanding how you can serve them.”

This approach may sound simple, but it’s often overlooked in the rush to craft the perfect marketing campaign or viral social media post. Kirsten’s advice is clear: start with the people you know. Whether it’s reaching out to a former colleague, catching up with a friend over coffee, or sending a follow-up message to someone who commented on a social media post, every connection matters. These authentic interactions are often the seeds of long-term coaching relationships.


Balance Creativity and Strategy

Kirsten’s unique background in biochemistry, performance arts, and technology sales shaped her approach to coaching. She believes that successful coaches blend creativity with strategy. On one hand, there’s the creative aspect of connecting with people, staying curious, and finding innovative ways to serve. On the other hand, there’s the need for strategic thinking—such as understanding your numbers, managing cash flow, and setting clear goals.

“Knowing your numbers is empowering,” Kirsten explained. “It’s not just about tracking revenue; it’s about understanding how money flows through your business so you can make better decisions and serve more clients.”

This balance between right-brain creativity and left-brain strategy allows coaches to stay grounded while pursuing their passion for helping others. For example, Kirsten’s coaching blends mindset work with tactical steps, helping her clients move past their internal blocks and take meaningful action toward their goals.


The Power of Active Listening

One of the most valuable skills a coach can develop is active listening. Kirsten highlighted the importance of truly hearing what your clients or prospects are saying, rather than focusing on what you want to say next.

“When we’re listening, we’re earning trust,” Kirsten noted. “It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about creating a space where people feel seen and heard.”

Amanda Kaufman echoed this sentiment, describing active listening as a two-way process. Reflecting back what you’ve heard—for example, saying “It sounds like you’re saying this… Is that right?”—creates clarity and builds rapport. This skill not only deepens your client relationships but also helps you identify how best to support them.


Navigating Slow Seasons with Confidence

Every coach experiences ebbs and flows in their business. When faced with slow seasons, Kirsten’s advice is to focus on action. She shared a story about a time when her business felt stagnant. Instead of waiting for opportunities to come to her, she created a five-day webinar series to engage her audience and generate momentum.

“The energy of being of service is magnetic,” she said. “When you put yourself out there, even in small ways, you start to attract opportunities.”

Taking consistent action—whether it’s sending follow-up messages, hosting a workshop, or sharing valuable content—keeps your business moving forward. The key is to stay in motion and remain open to unexpected opportunities.


Let Go of the "How"

One of the biggest mindset shifts Kirsten made in her journey was letting go of the need to control how her goals would be achieved.

“When you’re overly focused on the exact path to your goal, you can miss out on opportunities,” she explained. “Stay clear on your goal, but be open to the many ways it can come to fruition.”

Amanda agreed, emphasizing that action and intention often lead to unexpected breakthroughs. By staying in high intention and focusing on service, you create the conditions for success to find you—sometimes in ways you never imagined.


Top Tips for Coaches That Don’t Suck

As the conversation wrapped up, Amanda asked Kirsten to share her top three tips for becoming a great coach. Here’s what she said:

  1. Practice, Practice, Practice: Coaching is a skill that improves with experience. The more you coach, the better you’ll understand your style, strengths, and areas for growth.

  2. Know Yourself: Self-awareness is key to effective coaching. The more you understand your own mindset, values, and beliefs, the better equipped you’ll be to support your clients.

  3. Understand Your Numbers: Running a coaching business means being intentional about your finances. Know your revenue, track your expenses, and take ownership of your financial health to build a sustainable practice.

Kirsten also added a bonus tip: Great coaches have coaches. Investing in your own growth not only improves your skills but also models the value of coaching for your clients.


Taking the Next Step

If you’re ready to elevate your coaching business, take a page from Kirsten Schmidtke’s playbook. Focus on building authentic relationships, blend creativity with strategy, and stay in action even during slow seasons. Remember, coaching is about service and connection. When you approach your business with these principles, you’ll not only thrive but also make a meaningful impact on the lives of your clients.

Ready to connect with Kirsten? Follow her here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenschmidtke
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstenschmidtke/
Website: www.kirstenschmidtke.com


🔗 Additional Resources & Ways to Connect with Amanda:
📕 Grab your free Thrive & Scale Expert Blueprint: https://thecoachesplaza.com/the-thrive-and-scale-blueprint
🎙️ Listen to The Amanda Kaufman Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-amanda-kaufman-show/id1450993176
📺 Watch episodes and coaching tips on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theamandakaufmanshow
📸 Follow Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theamandakaufman
💼 Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandackaufman/
👥 Join The Coaches That Don’t Suck Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecoachsplaza

Kirsten and Amanda Podcast

Episode Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Coaching and Personal Background

03:02 The Importance of Authentic Connections

06:01 Active Listening and Relationship Building

09:04 Navigating Challenges in Coaching

11:46 The Role of Action in Motivation

15:05 Letting Go of Control and Embracing Flow

18:06 Key Practices for Effective Coaching

20:59 Understanding Numbers and Business Management

23:50 The Value of Having a Coach

27:05 Conclusion and Resources

Full Transcript

Kirsten Schmidtke (00:00)

when things were slow and maybe I like opportunities and quotes and invoices like things weren't moving what activities what okay what I need to do I needed to get in front of people I needed to initiate conversations I needed to maybe have something that generated energy

around conversations, around sharing ideas, around sharing insights, inspiring people. so empowering people, educating people. So taking that then into my coaching business and the action might look like an email, a text, a DM or something like that to follow up with someone I haven't heard from or someone who is engaged in something before.

Amanda Kaufman (01:02)

Well, hello and welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And we are continuing with our series, The Coaches That Don't Suck. And I'm so excited to be joined by my friend Kirsten Schmidtky,

Kirsten is a leadership and performance coach. She's dedicated to helping individuals and organizations align their work, accelerate success, and inspire future leaders. Her corporate experience and coaching expertise transform clients from uncertain to unstoppable. Kirsten, welcome to the show.

Kirsten Schmidtke (01:35)

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Amanda Kaufman (01:38)

So excited. So we were getting ready to do the episode and you were sharing with me that it was a very busy day. Take 30 seconds and just share with us what is it that you really do? Like how do you help people?

Kirsten Schmidtke (01:50)

Amazing. I thought maybe we were going to go with like morning routine, but I can definitely go into, you know, how I help people, which actually kind of starts with the morning routine, right? Like if I'm setting myself up to feeling good, feeling aligned to my goals, my purpose, then yes, I am helping people from a place that is grounded, that is authentic, and that is generous. When it comes to serving and supporting my clients,

Amanda Kaufman (02:00)

me about it.

Kirsten Schmidtke (02:16)

You know, I work with clients both in group and private coaching capacities and really our work focuses on I really love to bring both the left and right side of the brain to the table. I'm sure if we talk a little bit about my background that will come out really clearly but I work in the mindset as well as like the tactics and tools space and I love to really bridge those together so that when I'm working with clients I'm helping them to get out of the way like themselves

out of their own way, which is obviously often their thinking and their mindset, and then to help really ideate and guide them to the actions, the steps, the doing, right? The things that are gonna help them to move the needle and get them to their goals faster.

Amanda Kaufman (02:59)

All right, now you've got me curious. So I have a chemical engineering background. I was definitely like, I think the left brain, left brain, left brain that had to bring more right brain into things. So I'm curious, what is that background that led you to the conclusion that you need that balance?

Kirsten Schmidtke (03:15)

Yeah, well, I grew up as...

Well, I grew up as a dancer grew up doing many things but dance was my passion was my life performance entertainment on stage It actually led me to spend some time as a performer before going back to university for which I have Received a degree in biochemistry. I loved math I was always really interested in the body, but I actually found that the the math and chemistry side of things in physics like that was actually what

Really? I don't know made sense to me like connected for me And so it's just really interesting that this theme seems to continue throughout my life where I have this this Desire to be creative, but also this side of my brain. That's like I love numbers. I love problem-solving. I love equations. I love math

Amanda Kaufman (04:06)

That's so awesome. I was a figure skater growing up and I did the chemical engineering degree, but I have to tell you biochemistry was like my Achilles heel. There was something about it that I just, it didn't vibe. But I feel you on the math and the movement and all of that kind of thing that makes a lot of sense. So Kirsten, when you're working with somebody, well, first of all, I'm really curious, how do you find your clients?

Kirsten Schmidtke (04:15)

Right.

You know, that's a very common question that I receive when I talk to other coaches, which I'm sure it looks different for everybody.

Amanda Kaufman (04:38)

It does, it does, yeah.

Kirsten Schmidtke (04:41)

And I always like to share with my clients.

what works for me so that they can also, like what's working, I want them to try the same things, right? Because often it's kind of a tried and true process if it's leading to results. I find that starting with who I know, right? I have found most of my clients through simply conversations. So whether that is connecting over coffee, networking event and sharing what I'm up to now, whether it has been through a response to maybe a post or, you

Amanda Kaufman (04:57)

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten Schmidtke (05:14)

on social media and of course, you know, the mechanism of referrals can be very, very powerful too in bringing new clients to us that are coming from someone who's experienced working with us. But, you know, guess the between now and the bio or the coaching career in the biochemistry degree, I actually had a career in technology sales in the corporate world. And so that's been obviously really was a really helpful stepping stone to

to finding clients was connecting with my network, or you could even say like reconnecting and reintroducing myself in a way as I was stepping into being a coach.

Amanda Kaufman (05:53)

Yeah, I love that. And I think that it's a unfortunately very discounted way to go about just building your business and your practice. I also started with a very sales-oriented.

approach in the first few years of my business that I was actually like really nervous about doing online marketing. And it took me a few years to learn how to do online marketing. And even when you do online marketing really well, guess where it lands in a sales conversation. So, you know, it's so funny because I think a lot of people are building, you know, really complicated marketing, you know, hoping that somebody is just going to like see it and be really impressed and then just throw a credit card at your face.

At the end of the day, coaching really is a relationship. So it comes down to your willingness to have those relationships and to connect. So I am curious, what practices do you recommend for just staying really authentic and curious as you build connections and as you identify, like, maybe this person might be a connection that could be, I don't know, like a client or a referral. What are your top tips?

Kirsten Schmidtke (07:03)

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I just really want to acknowledge and appreciate you for the connection, but also the separation of marketing and sales, right? Because you're totally right. If we just put out the most perfect post, it's not going to make it rain, right? It's not just kind of an immediate win, right? From a sales perspective.

Amanda Kaufman (07:14)

Mm.

I know and we give ourselves stomach aches over it

Kirsten Schmidtke (07:27)

And then you hit another nail on the head, which was around the relationship building. I've had people ask me, it must be so different. this job you're doing after doing sales? But it's so much the same, because sales is relationship building. Coaching is relationship building. And so the question was, what are the tools or what are the things that I of looked to?

Amanda Kaufman (07:44)

It is.

Kirsten Schmidtke (07:54)

or lean on. And when we think about relationship building, it's all about earning trust.

Right? It's all about relating, right? To one another and as a result building trust and one thing that I've learned is the power of listening. And so whether that is like through an email, a DM, a chat, a phone call, a voice memo is always coming from the plate, like meeting the client, the person or potential client where they are and listening to them not.

Amanda Kaufman (08:01)

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten Schmidtke (08:28)

not speaking and sharing from all the ways you can solve their problems, but really listening and letting their thoughts, their share, guide you to the question or guide you to the response versus feeling that you have an agenda to follow or a series of questions that have to be asked. We can always build those guidelines for ourselves, but if we're not in the seat of listening, you almost want to be

the conversation just like you would be when you're coaching, right? Is how you want to be listening when you're you're engaging with a potential client. Go ahead.

Amanda Kaufman (08:59)

I really love that.

Yeah, I super love that and thank you. I was thinking about this summer I had the opportunity to teach a class on coaching skills for mastermind.com and we were talking about what is active listening and what I was saying about it and I don't know if you would agree with this, but is that active listening really requires you to speak after they said something, but it's to confirm.

You know, so for example, sounds like you're saying this seems like you're saying that one of the mistakes that I made early on as I was, you know, navigating all of this as a recovering introvert and definitely a perfectionist was that I was getting into my head a lot about like, OK, listen, but I wasn't I wasn't feeding back the acknowledgement that, you know, here's here's here's what's being said here, giving the opportunity for the person to correct.

what I said and it's almost like, I love what you said about the agenda and being like concerned and worried about what your agenda is. I almost think of it as like you double click up that your agenda, your intention, I like that word a little better, your intention going into connected relationships is to serve, is to listen, is to like listen for how can I be of greatest service.

and like honor your coaching as being a great way to serve, but also be open to there's lots of different ways that you could be helping and relating to someone.

Kirsten Schmidtke (10:36)

Absolutely. And even just in listening to you right now, was another part of active listening is every time I'm like, I have something good to say. have something good to say. It's like, it's letting that actually go and go back into, no, no, no, no, what's Amanda saying?

Okay, wait, get back into Amanda's world. Get back, right, instead of me holding on to all these, but I, my ego is telling me, I have all these wonderful things though that I can tell Amanda. But wait, they might not actually be relevant if I'm not listening to what you're talking about in the moment, right? And I think you did capture, and I do agree with you, a really powerful tool that I learned.

Like in becoming a coach and in my certification that I did I wish I had known in my sales career and that is exactly what you said sharing back like I'm hearing this is that right or What I heard you say is would you add or change anything because what we don't? Realize is everyone just you've got glasses on you're literally seeing through a different lens than I am right now and we actually also hear through

the lens of our own experience, our own, maybe what happened this morning, our own skills and strengths. So what we're saying is not always being received or heard the same way. And so I really love that check-in of reflecting back what I heard and ensuring that I'm on the same, the client and I are on the same path together.

Amanda Kaufman (12:07)

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I'm curious, what do you do or how do you lead yourself through challenging periods or slow seasons with your process? Whether it's fewer sales are coming in or you're just noticing kind of a lull sometimes in the coaching space, how do you navigate through that? How do you lead through that?

Kirsten Schmidtke (12:30)

I think there's two parts. is getting into action will always create momentum and as a result, motivation. Like I believe motivation starts by taking action, like getting off the couch is like literally the first step to going to the gym instead of watching TV, right? Like that idea is the same when you apply it to your business. what is one...

Well, this is a place where I really actually relied on my sales career and okay when time same thing when things were slow and maybe I like opportunities and quotes and invoices like things weren't moving what activities what okay what I need to do I needed to get in front of people I needed to initiate conversations I needed to maybe have something that generated energy

around conversations, around sharing ideas, around sharing insights, inspiring people. so empowering people, educating people. So taking that then into my coaching business and the action might look like an email, a text, a DM or something like that to follow up with someone I haven't heard from or someone who is engaged in something before.

But if I really want to take it one step further and really generate the energy engine around it, I will create a webinar, a workshop, something that gets my voice and my ideas and my service, like engine running. And it's worked.

Like I love to share this story. Like last year, at the end of the year, I had some goals that I wanted to, you know, for Q4 and I decided I would do, this was very ambitious by the way, I did a five day webinar.

was like a 15 minute section every day over the lunch hour. It was kind of an experiment to see how I could maybe engage more with my corporate network. In any event, we make these assumptions that that is going to generate the lead or generate the opportunity. But just being in the energy of being of service and showing up and sharing, that week, back to back days, I signed.

private coaching clients in like six month containers at a new rate. They did not come from the webinar, but they came to me. One was, one was, I would say kind of like a friend of a friend. Like she was in my world. So she had been following what I had been doing on social and seeing, yeah, seeing what I was up to and what I was all about. And the other one,

Amanda Kaufman (14:52)

That's awesome. Where did they come from?

Kirsten Schmidtke (15:09)

actually will never know who referred her because she came from the technology industry and in a tech forum had kind of done a shout out or an ask to the group, right? Like does anybody know of career coaches or people who help navigate corporate careers? And my name ended up on the list. So yeah.

Amanda Kaufman (15:29)

I love it. I love this. This is such a great conversation because I think sometimes our need for certainty or our need for control can sometimes sabotage the really good results. I'm reminded of a book, one of my favorite books ever is You Are a Badass at Making Money.

And I love it because, you know, later in my career, I read a whole bunch of different personal development type books. And I was like, you know, a really good summary and a very funny book is still you are a badass at making money. And one of the central tenets or ideas of of that whole series is that your intention or what you're putting out there for universal intelligence is so important because you don't

Always know what that pathway is going to be or what the thing is that's going to take off or work And I think one of the biggest traps that we fall into in goal in goal seeking is getting overly linear, you know a little over indexed on the math that That it has to look like it has to look like this path has to be on this timeline And truly like when you're in this really higher intent space and you keep putting more and more and more

energy towards it in a way that's not not sacrificing your higher good or not not kind of in a quid pro quo, you know, even even balance kind of a thing but rather just like an abundant giving place it tends to just attract people and sometimes it's directly but very often it's almost like there's these eddies in the energy in the universe and just kind of sweeps things up. It's that's been my experience. I don't know if that's

That's for you too.

Kirsten Schmidtke (17:18)

Yeah, absolutely. It took me a while to really, I think once you experience it, you never go back, but it took me a while to really wrap my head around this idea of having a goal, but not having to know how to get there. Like not knowing how to get, like not having to be so caught up in like, this is exactly how it's gonna look like. For example, what I just shared, you know, there was a goal in mind.

Amanda Kaufman (17:33)

Mmm.

Kirsten Schmidtke (17:44)

But at one time it would have, it had to be, I don't know, this many private clients and they were gonna, I don't know, be, look like this, they were gonna come from this source and they were gonna come from this lead or they were gonna, right? you get so caught on like how, like what it's supposed to look like or something that you miss opportunity. And so when you can let go of the how, like just like the how being none of your business.

Totally you direct your energy towards that goal and holy cow things come in and come to you that you otherwise would have not even probably noticed because you're so focused on How it was supposed to look or how you were going to get to the goal? So this idea of really releasing the house staying again super focused on what the goal is I mean, there's we know there's power to power

and having clarity on where we're going. But when you can release being really attached to how you're going to get there, it's amazing how the opportunities find you. You attract, like you're in the energy of the goal, you're in action of going towards that North Star, if you will. Things find you. Things will find you if you can let go of being really attached to how it's supposed to look or how it's supposed to come to be.

Amanda Kaufman (18:59)

Exactly. And I think like

related to that, if you stay in really high intention, what can happen if you stay in motion, you stay in that action is you start to develop competency and you start to also identify what are the competencies that are really required here. Because I think one of the one of the things that's easy to do earlier in the journey with without having any kind of any kind of road traveled is to assume that you know what it takes to do that thing you've never ever done before.

You know, you know, mentorship helps with that. Research helps with that. Reading helps with that. All of those things help with that. But I think actually doing the thing helps you understand for you what are the pieces that are going to require more of your nurture and more of your care. I love this. So good. So Kirsten, what are three things that help a coach not to suck?

Kirsten Schmidtke (19:30)

Mm.

my gosh, that's a fun question. What are three things?

Okay, first thing that came up was practice. I'm just receiving the download. Practice. It was kind of coming off one of the comments that you just made too, is getting into the practice of coaching. When I started, I was pretty open to coaching people in any capacity.

Amanda Kaufman (20:05)

Mm.

Kirsten Schmidtke (20:25)

creative with my rates, like it was just getting into the practice of coaching. And we're always in the practice of it. I think that's one of my favorite things about the industry is that we have a coaching practice. Like we are all working to be better at being ourselves and offering guidance on helping others to do the same thing. And so we're both, we're practicing together essentially and figuring out what that is. And so the more practice and the more

Yeah reps you can get in of doing the thing is a little bit kind of what you were just talking about to like That that just improved that just helps you to be a better a better coach Which really leads me to kind of the second part isn't is you is knowing you better like if you want to be

better at, gosh, whatever, I mean, in this case, we're talking about coaches, but I tell my clients this, that are leaders in corporate or business owners of a different variety. Like, if you want to be better, if you want to serve more, if you want to up the level of your leadership, like, you need to understand you better. You need to.

Amanda Kaufman (21:31)

So good.

Kirsten Schmidtke (21:32)

have a higher level of awareness, right? A higher level of thinking that will lead to a higher level of results. So definitely like being in the practice of coaching, getting to know yourself better. Now the last one, what do I want to offer as the last one for coaches that don't, you know, I'm going to,

Just to be in the spirit of our right brain left brain, do, I really wanna make it like something's telling me that it needs to be business related. Like knowing your numbers. I'm gonna just say it, knowing your numbers because if we are, if we're not being,

Amanda Kaufman (22:04)

Hmm.

Kirsten Schmidtke (22:11)

taking full responsibility for our results, which includes our revenue, right? Where we're looking to build a business here. That, like...

That's gonna be mirrored by our clients that's gonna be mirrored in how we're showing up that's gonna be right so I think taking Responsibility and ownership of the business now whether that means you have support from from a financial expert or you're hiring a bookkeeper Account like whatever that means for you, but I think having that Yeah, knowing your numbers and understanding

just like really, really the basics of cash flow and knowing kind of that revenue, like how things are flowing for you. I just really think that empowers you to feel. know for me it was like this shift and like I'm building a business, like I'm doing this thing. And so I think that that last piece I would offer is is knowing those numbers to just empower you to continue to be of service, to continue to grow, to know that when you know

your numbers and those are growing, it just means you get to serve more people in more powerful ways.

Amanda Kaufman (23:22)

really, really loved that. you know, thinking back on my own journey, that was a hard one lesson. You know, I thought that and I think if you just like look at the marketing in the industry, even now, even like seven, eight years later, it's all like make this much money in this amount of

of time and it's like that's the goal and I'm like no mate. The truth is that you already really do understand cash flow on a level because you know how much your rent is, you know how much your general living costs are and there's jobs that you would not accept if you couldn't make

enough to cover your lifestyle. So most people actually really do understand cash flow on a level, but they don't prioritize it very well. So what happened in my story was I learned how to sell and I learned how to get the clients in the door and I had like 16 one on one clients and I had very like I had I had more expenses than I had month, you know, and I was like,

What's happening here? And at the end of the day, I had to do more reading and more learning and more implementation around cash flow, even though I was doing multiple six figures. I was was shook by that. Like it really affected pretty much like everything personally, but it also really affected what I ended up helping people with in the future with my coaching, because it's like not talked about enough, really not talked about enough. I love it. Well.

Kirsten Schmidtke (24:43)

Yeah. Yeah. And it goes back to that second point, too, like knowing yourself better, right? Like understanding how, because absolutely there's likely a belief, a story, like a mindset, like something around money, too, that you want to get clarity and awareness around so that when you do look at the numbers, you see them for what they are. Numbers. They're literally numbers.

Amanda Kaufman (24:50)

Yes.

Holy.

Yeah, yeah.

Kirsten Schmidtke (25:08)

Like a phone number is a number, but as soon as there's a dollar sign in front of it, we give it like all this extra meaning, right? So as soon as we can, yeah, clear some of that, which I imagine like, you know, gosh, can I have a fourth one? The coaches that don't suck have coaches. So I would say the fourth one is.

Amanda Kaufman (25:21)

Sure, yeah.

Yeah, that's a good one. Coaches that don't suck have coaches. Yeah.

Kirsten Schmidtke (25:27)

Yeah, yeah, you have your own coach to help you by the way work through maybe if there is some some blockers or Mindset shifts around the money piece so that you can you can just see it as cash and you can see it as flow

Like money flowing, I think that was a big shift for me too and seeing it's not just like in out transactional but like money is always flowing and always there's an opportunity for money to be coming in if you're open to receiving it and like open to going out there and like asking for it. Like go and get it.

Amanda Kaufman (25:41)

Mm-hmm.

Totally.

Totally. Yeah, go get it. Yeah, stop sitting back and like waiting for someone to recognize your awesomeness. Like go out and strut your stuff. I love it. Kirsten, what's the best way for people to follow you?

Kirsten Schmidtke (26:07)

What?

Yeah, so I love to connect on two platforms, Instagram and LinkedIn. Both, can find me at my full name. Might need to do a copy and paste, Kirsten Schmidt Key. Not a lot of vowels, lots of consonants.

Amanda Kaufman (26:26)

Not Schmitt. We covered this. It's Schmittky.

Kirsten Schmidtke (26:28)

Not Schmidt, yeah, yeah, not Schmidt. Make sure you include the K.E. But yeah, you can find me on Instagram. You can find me on LinkedIn. And you know, if, yeah, if you do connect with me on either platform and, you know, I'm just thinking, we just talking about this number thing. And, you know, when it comes to...

creating what we call like a pipeline in sales. think coaches get a little bit hung up with like, you know, how do I manage follow ups or how do I, you know, kind of build this out in a way that I can know who to follow up with or also know what opportunities I have to.

to build my business to get to the goal I want to get to. I just shared actually the other day that, you know, in the tech industry, like we always had this kind of guiding light of like two, three X.

of revenue was like the opportunity that you want to generate because it's generally about a third that we actually like close, right? So anyway, if you're looking for more guidance on how you can organize that information and Amanda, you're probably gonna go here, but if you just wanna DM me sales, I have a really great tool that can help you with that.

Amanda Kaufman (27:28)

Mm-hmm.

That's super amazing and what a wonderful gift. And we'll include Kirsten's links and everything in the show notes as well.

And listener, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss another episode and go ahead and give a rating and review for this episode five, please, because Kirsten really showed up and she deserves it. And it'll also help other coaches find the episode. And in fact, you probably know three other coaches that would really benefit from hearing this. So go ahead and send it to them. Just grab the link and share it with your friend. Send it on message. Send it on DMs, whatever. But just

Lift some people up today, all right? So I hope you're having a really amazing day and we'll look forward to seeing you in the next episode. See you soon.

coachingleadershipactive listeningrelationship buildingpersonal developmentbusiness managementmotivationauthenticityclient connectionscoaching practices
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Amanda Kaufman

Amanda is the founder of The Coach's Plaza, has generated over $2 million in revenue, primarily through co-created action coaching and courses. Her journey exemplifies the power of perseverance and authentic connection in the coaching and consulting world. With over 17 years of business consulting experience, Amanda Kaufman shifted her focus to transformative client relationships, overcoming personal challenges like social anxiety and body image issues. She rapidly built a successful entrepreneurial coaching company from a list of just eight names, quitting her corporate job in four months and retiring her husband within nine months.

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