Ep #236: 1:1 Coaching After Successfully Selling Group Programs: Are You Moving Backwards?

Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 236.

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Hey Coach. So thrilled you’re here today. And today I want to talk to you about something that I’ve been working on that you may have seen pop up in my emails if you’re on my email list or on social media. And that is me offering some one-on-one coaching spots. I’m not just going to tell you about the spots. Actually, when this episode comes out, the spots will probably be full. And we will put a link in the show notes, so if not, you can go there and check it out. But the point of this episode is not to sell the spots at all.

It is something I think more important than that. So if you follow me on social media or you’re on my email list, you may have seen a few emails or a few posts about me having a one-on-one spot open, a single one-on-one spot open. And something I decided at the beginning of this year, maybe it was the end of last year actually, is that through 2025, I wanted to take one one-on-one client for coaching/consulting each quarter of the year. So a three-month client for the first three months, the second three months, third and fourth three months.

And something really interesting has happened, which I didn’t really even think about as I was doing it, but it keeps coming up. So I thought I should talk about it because it feels like this is really important for you to hear and to think about for some of you. So I want to talk about why I decided to do that. The reasons are probably different than what you might think they are, and why it’s beneficial for me to make that decision. Doesn’t mean I will be doing that forever. I might be, we’ll see.

But I think it’s really important to think through the reasons I decided to do that, why it’s important for my business where I am right now, and for you to consider the reasons I give so that you can think through it for your business. And one of the reasons I thought it was important to talk about this is because you would be—maybe you wouldn’t be. I have been surprised, shocked maybe, by the number of people that have said things like, “Oh, do you feel like you’re going backwards?” or “Why would you have that offer when you’ve been coaching only in groups for so long?”

First of all, when it comes to going backwards, I never—that has never been a thought that entered my mind. Probably because of the reasons I made this decision, and it just felt so clear to me. But if you are a coach that maybe runs a group, or you have a group program or whatever, and for whatever reason, you decide that you want to take some one-on-one clients, I just want you to know that is never—like going backwards is just not a thing.

You’ve heard me talk about this before, but this is in a very specific context, right? I have a program, The Coach Lab, that has hundreds and hundreds of coaches in it. That doesn’t mean that because I offer one-on-one spots, that there’s anything about that’s going backwards or going in a different direction. They just are two completely different things, and there are different reasons that I have the offers.

So I’m going to talk you through very specifically all the reasons I made this decision. But before I get to that, I just really want you to hear me when I say this: Even if you find yourself in a situation where financially in your business, maybe your launches aren’t working, your selling isn’t working, your group that you’ve sold before however many times, it’s just not working, and you feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t have the money I need to have in my business,’ right? To run my business, to pay for my business, to pay myself, whatever it is. Don’t ever tell yourself that you can’t sell one-on-one because that’s going backwards.

That is never going backwards. Actually, did you know that some coaches start—some of you listening are probably like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Like, ‘I started with a group offer or a membership or a program or whatever,’ and now I love signing one-on-one clients, right? Like that, some coaches do go in that direction. Or some coaches don’t care at all and they’re just selling whatever offer lights them up in the moment.

So for those of you that need to hear that, I just really want you to hear it and absorb it. You’re never going backwards. Even if you’re doing it because you need the money because your other things aren’t selling, even that is not going backwards. I call that responsible business ownership. Right? Like bringing in the money you need to bring in, making things happen when they aren’t happening in another area, that’s just being responsible and taking care of yourself and taking care of your business.

Thinking anything other than that is only a disservice to you. Now, that’s different if you’re like, ‘I absolutely don’t want to go from this to this,’ right? ‘Don’t want to do this thing I used to do.’ That’s very different, right? And that’s also a valuable opinion. Whatever it is you choose to do, whatever it is you choose to sell, whatever offers you are currently running with your clients, they’re probably perfect for where you are.

So let’s just dig in and I’ll tell you all the reasons I decided to do it and why I decided at the beginning of the year, right? And just to take one-on-one client per quarter. That was just a decision I made for lots of reasons, and it wasn’t just to bring in more money. It actually—like the price I’m charging is less money compared to when I’m selling lots of spots in a program or in a mastermind or anything like that. But here are my reasons, and why I decided to do it, and why this year it felt important to do that.

So, the first one, which to me feels like the most obvious, but maybe not, is because sometimes I just miss it, right? I really love being just in the depth of the coaching with my clients. It feels so rewarding, so fulfilling. It really fills me up in a way that is just different—not better than—but just different than coaching in groups and in programs does. It’s like I get to be involved in every step. I just get to be more involved. It feels a little more creative, a little more connected.

Right? And connection, I’m sure you’ve heard me say this, but connection is just one of my highest values. It’s one of my highest values in my life and in my business. That value is being fulfilled in my business. Of course, there are so many other ways that I fulfill connection, and I do feel connection, so much connection, with my group clients. So it’s not that I don’t feel it there; it’s just very different in a one-on-one coaching scenario. So, it just fills that bucket for me.

Right? So even if I’m making all the money that was ever made as a coach, I could still see myself offering some one-to-one coaching spots. And to be clear, I’m not offering them for like $100,000 or something, which listen, I know some coaches do that. Totally fine. I don’t really have an opinion about that. That’s just not what I’m doing and not right for me. It just doesn’t feel great to me. And it really comes down to just getting to kind of be there every step of the way. It kind of feels like being *in* the work, like getting my hands dirty, getting in there and really digging in. I don’t even know how else to say it.

It also allows me to have just kind of deeper relationships with my clients, which I really love. That was something I loved for the years of coaching one-to-one. I have added some kind of small one-to-one elements in some of my current programs, but it’s still not even the same as when I’m meeting with the same client every week for however many weeks in a row.

Now, there was a time after years of one-on-one coaching that I was kind of full. Like that cup for me was full. Right? And I was so excited to do a different kind of work, like the work when it comes to creating a group program or coaching in a group program. And I was just really excited to do that work, which I still am. I want to be very clear that I love both aspects of coaching, both styles of coaching, in group and one-on-one. They’re just very different. They’re different for the client and they’re different for the coach.

The other reason I decided to do it this year for 2025 is to really experiment with different customized approaches and to kind of show some of my clients, some of the people on my email list, that there are options when it comes to selling one-on-one coaching. That it doesn’t have to be cookie-cutter. It doesn’t have to be one call every week for however many weeks. It could be, it could look a little different than that.

So, with these one-on-one spots, I have been selling them as customizable coaching spots. Right? And it’s like there are lots of options, and let’s think through what the best option would be for each client. And so what’s happening right now is people are filling out applications, and then I am reviewing the applications. I’m setting up a short call with them, and then we’re kind of figuring out what is the best strategy for them.

Right? It could be meeting once a week, every week, for an hour. It could be, some weeks they want to not be sitting at their desk because they sit at their desk all day and they want to go for a walk. And so we go for ‘walks’—I’m saying in air quotes—together, right? Where I’m also on a walk, we’re on our phone, and we’re just coaching through some of the things. It could be that they really thrive in an in-person environment. And guess what? I love to travel.

So for me, it feels so fun to think about like, okay, let’s have however many calls throughout the three months, but then let’s also plan a couple days together where we’re really knocking out like an entire project or creating an entire launch or really anything that they can dream up, we could do together, right? And then go to dinner in the evenings, and that might feel amazing to some clients.

Or it could be maybe they love a longer meeting every two weeks, or they want a couple partial days, like maybe two full afternoons where we’re working together, and then the rest of the time, however many hours are left, we split those up into one-on-one calls, right? I am just allowing it to be completely customizable, which feels really fun for me, and it’s been really fun talking to potential clients about what that might look like for them because most coaches—which is really fun for me—they’re not used to having so much choice, right? And like, ‘Wait, you don’t just tell me? I also get to decide how I work best and what feels the best for me?’ That feels really fun for me.

The next reason is that when I am coaching one-on-one, it’s a lot easier to get focused feedback, right? To know in the moment if the coaching is working. Now, of course, I also do that in my groups. I take that very seriously. But it is just different when you’re coaching one-to-one, right? You know every week, week to week, how it’s going? Are they moving forward? Is the coaching working? There’s no option to hide like you can in a group.

And then the last reason, and this is probably the most important as far as my business, is that I teach coaching skills. So much of my work is focused on coaching skills and now also business skills. But an entire half of my business—or at this point, more than half—is dedicated to coaching skills and helping my clients help their clients, right? At every level, whether it’s in The Coach Lab, or it’s in masterminds, or when I run the advanced certification. I am constantly helping coaches refine their processes and be great at what they do.

And when I think about that, I think it’s important that I am also including my own one-on-one coaching, practicing my own skills to stay kind of sharp in that area, right? It keeps me out of teaching more theory and into, ‘Oh, this is what I know because I’m doing it currently.’ It can be really easy over time, like if I just never had one-on-one clients again, and I kept coaching in The Coach Lab and teaching on coaching skills, I could do that, and a lot of coaches do that, and that would be great. But I do find that when I dig into some one-on-one sessions, it just allows for just a little bit of a different approach to my teaching. I think it creates more clarity in my teaching, a little more awareness of, ‘Oh yes, I do know what it’s like.’

Right? It also helps me have a deeper understanding for my clients’ challenges, for the clients in The Coach Lab or in groups where I’m working on coaching skills or working on their processes with them. It helps me just really have that deeper understanding, again, because I’m doing the work myself, or it hasn’t been so long since I’ve done the work.

One thing I find for me is that individual sessions and that deeper one-on-one connection can really, for me, spark some kind of creativity, some new approaches to coaching, and some different ways to teach coaching skills, or teach coaching processes, or teach anything that’s going on inside of coaching sessions.

Another one, which I have really been enjoying lately, is just a better understanding of certain types of clients, right? The one thing about getting really deep with one-on-one clients is that all clients are different, all clients have different needs, have different neurodiversities, have different cultures, have different—just all the things, right?

Everything that makes a human a human is going to be vastly different from person to person. And when you’re working one-on-one with clients, you really get to dig deeper into those types of things, to be able to adjust your coaching approach to all of those things, to say, ‘Ooh, this is a challenge coming up on my calls. Let me see what can I do about that?’ Right? It just gives you the kind of lens to look through to really improve very specific types of coaching skills.

And then last, it also allows me, as someone who teaches coaching skills and works with clients in that way, to have a better understanding of where my skills can be improved, right? To say, I’m always a product of my work. I’m always improving my coaching skills. I’m always looking at where could I be better at this. And yes, of course, I’m doing that in my group coaching all the time and always questioning that for myself. But there’s just a different way of doing that when you’re working in that deeper one-on-one relationship with clients.

And then the last thing, and this is kind of a side note—this is not one of the reasons that I decided to sell one-on-one coaching this year—but one thing to consider too is that the way my business is structured, I am selling The Coach Lab, I’m selling some different programs. I have The Coach Project and The Coach Lab Business Pods, and I am currently kind of in between launching any of that. So as I’m selling this, and because I’ve had years of building my audience and getting people on my email list, it doesn’t take a lot of effort for me to sell one-on-one coaching. Not like it used to years ago, right? Where I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how do you even sell a coaching spot?’

And so it’s also not confusing any of my offers, right? Because I’m just selling it for a brief amount of time in between other launches, and I don’t have anything launching right now. Now, that might change by the time this podcast comes out, but while—like right now in this moment, which is currently when I’m selling the one-on-one spots—it’s not interfering with anything. So that is something to consider if you are going to think through this on your own of like, when do I sell one-on-one coaching? When do I sell group?

It sometimes can be tricky. There are ways to do it that can be very effective, but it sometimes can be tricky for your audience and for just you if you’re selling more than one thing at a time. And it can kind of create that—like for the client watching or the potential client watching—can create kind of a ‘Well, which one is for me?’ confusion that you don’t necessarily want a prospective client to have.

So, a little information, just in case you haven’t seen it on what my one-on-one offers look like. Again, they might not be available by the time this comes out, but we will put the link in the show notes. If you’re available, you can fill out an application and you will hear back from me. Or if I just have too many applications, we’ll turn off the link, but we’ll maybe put a wait list link there or let you know kind of what’s going on.

But the way I’m selling it currently is right now I have one—only one—one-to-one spot open for Q2, which yes, I’m a little late selling it, which is fine. But I opened an application, and on the application, because I’m taking one client per quarter, you can specify which quarter you want coaching in. And I’ve had several applications for Q3 and Q4 already. None of them are locked in, so if you’re hoping to grab one of those, you can still fill out the application if you like, and we will let you know kind of where we are on that, how that’s going. But at the time I’m recording this, no one has taken me up yet on the Q2 one-on-one offer.

So if you’re listening, you never know. This might be your day. If you’ve been wanting to work with me one-on-one or you’re like, ‘What? I love this idea of a customizable coaching package,’ get on it. Fill out an application. I’ll see. Maybe I’ll love your application so much that I’ll take on a second client. We’ll see. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but we will see.

And I truly love doing this work, otherwise I wouldn’t be opening these spots. So if you’re ready to just jump on board, get going, like let’s go. Want to see me lit up and help you feel so connected to your work. There are really endless possibilities of what we can coach on. But the reason I call it coaching and consulting is that the clients that I’ve worked with in this offer so far—there’s only been one client, but we—actually two clients.

One client was a very specific short thing that I did at the end of last year, which actually kind of prompted this idea of like, ‘Ooh, I liked that. What would it look like to add this in a little bit?’ And that was a very business-focused client. And then the second client that I’ve been working with recently was to really help develop a Master Coach certification. She has a giant business. She’s been a coach for a long time. She has a coach certification, and she wanted to create this new thing. And so she hired me to kind of come on board and help her create it.

And that’s why I’m calling it a coaching/consulting spot, because some of it could be strategizing, helping you build out a new program. I love doing that work. It’s my area of expertise. Helping make sure that your clients are having an extraordinary experience with you. And just doing any of this work, right? It could be that. It could be creating a marketing and selling plan. It could be completely restructuring something that you’re running, creating a new offer, just any of the things. Anything that you want support with in your business or in your coaching. And of course, I will tell you if I’m like, ‘This is outside of my area of expertise.’ I will tell you that as well.

But I’m so glad you were here today. This is just kind of a short and sweet episode. I really just hope that this helps you if you’ve been thinking, ‘Oh, I want to sell this, but I can’t,’ or ‘It’s going backwards,’ or ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ or whatever. Just a friendly reminder: you’re running your own business. You get to do whatever you want. If you’re in the Business Pods, you’ve heard me say this. I’ve said it already multiple times, and in The Coach Project, I’ve said it multiple times.

It’s your business. Everything gets to be on your terms. Right? So if you’re like, ‘I see this thing, it feels like it’s going to just light me up and create a new energy for me in my business,’ do it. Try it. The worst that can happen is you’re wrong, and then you just make changes later. That’s okay. You’re allowed to do that in business. All right? Thank you for being here. Love you so much. I will talk to you next week. Goodbye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.