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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Most of the advice aimed at coaches comes from people running companies that do hundreds of millions a year. It's sound, and it's often useless for where you actually are. Here's the thing almost nobody will do, and it's exactly why it works.
You don't need to go viral or build a machine. A full service-based coaching business is 10 to 15 clients. You get them by being in the right place, at the right time, with the right offer, often enough — not by optimizing funnels before you have a foundation.
A photographer stopped Sean's family on the Long Beach boardwalk, offered to take their photos, took several, and asked for an email to send them. She probably did that for a hundred families that day. Most said no. But Sean was in the market, she'd already delivered value, and she got the business. Meanwhile the other photographers were posting on Instagram, running ads, and chasing collaborations.
"She got lucky because she was there. She was there because she decided to get lucky on purpose."
Early on, broke and unknown, Sean drove six hours each way on a Saturday to meet an existing client for one hour. That athlete never posted about him — but he became a name Sean could drop, which opened the door to the next athlete, and the next. Driving into Manhattan to meet another, Sean got sideswiped at a toll booth and waved the other driver off rather than miss the appointment; he lived with the dented car for years. That meeting produced two referrals on the spot, and more than 20 within two years.
"It demonstrates commitment that other people won't make."
To launch his book, Sean could have mailed 175 copies media mail. Instead he built custom boxes, hand-wrote full postcard-length letters, highlighted the pages relevant to each person, added a wax-sealed envelope, and had Polaroids taken of the team stuffing the boxes so recipients knew it wasn't outsourced. Sixteen hours of handwriting later, most recipients shared it and helped sell thousands of copies. There's a time to optimize. There's also a time to be the woman on the boardwalk.
The relentless part only pays off when you can actually deliver for those first 10 to 15 clients. Building that skill is what the L1 workshop is for.
Start inside the assessment system. The L1 Biomechanics & Assessment Workshop is two days, live online, $19 (it was $1,500 in-person).
GRAB A SPOT — $19A: They have a time and place, but early on they won't beat being in the right place with the right offer, often enough.
A: In the service world, 10 to 15 clients is a full, successful business. You don't need hundreds.
A: Doing the unscalable, inconvenient things — showing up in person, over-committing to a few people — that put you in position for the breaks others never get.
A: That's exactly why it works. The inconvenience is the signal — it's commitment other people aren't willing to make.
A: The $19 L1 Assessment Workshop — 4 hours, live online. The lowest-risk way to see if this is the work you want to be doing.
Adapted from Dr. Sean Pastuch. Watch the full video above.
Live More. Hurt Less. by Dr. Sean Pastuch is the thinking behind the method — how pain actually works, and why the members who've "tried everything" are still stuck. Read it to sharpen how you coach, then put it in your clients' hands.
ORDER the bookActive Life Professional | Turn Pro.