You've defined your payoff. You know your math. You've identified your audience. You've picked your channel. Now what?

Now you actually talk to people.

This is Step 5 in our 7-part series on scaling your coaching business from one-to-one to one-to-many. And this is the step most coaches skip entirely, or confuse with selling. Connection is not selling. It is not coaching in the DMs. It is the contact sport that happens before any of that, and if it's not in your calendar, it's not happening.

In this episode, Adam and Jess break down what real connection looks like, why active and passive approaches both work depending on who you are, and why the same tactics that filled your one-to-one roster will not fill a group.

What You'll Learn

Why connection is Step 5 and not Step 2, and what goes wrong when coaches invert the order
The difference between active connection (DMs, texts, outreach) and passive connection (email nurture, stages, podcasts) and why both are valid
Why you should never sell or coach in the DMs during the connection phase
How Jess grew her email list by 20% in a week and a half with two lead magnets and what that means for connection at scale
Why 60-80% email open rates are possible when your nurture sequence is built right
What a weekly connection plan actually looks like in your calendar
Why the same connection approach that got you 10 one-to-one clients won't get you 100 group members
The difference between one-to-one outreach and one-to-many connection systems and when to use each
Why "systems are just the standards you live by" is the most important sentence in this episode
What's coming in Step 6: enrolling people into your offer without it feeling like a sales pitch

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Step 5: Connect
00:54 Why connect comes after channel, not before
02:06 Audience vs. connection: what the difference actually means
03:47 Why coaches invert connect and audience and what it costs them
04:42 The "build it and they will come" trap
05:55 What active connection looks like in practice
06:22 Active vs. passive connection: Adam vs. Jess approach
07:38 The rule: never sell and never coach in the DMs
09:26 How Jess grew her email list 20% in a week and a half
10:19 Why open rates matter more than list size
11:00 Why connection has to be in your calendar or it won't happen
12:57 Systems are the standards you live by
13:48 One-to-one connection vs. one-to-many connection systems
14:37 Email, keynote speaking, and podcasting as passive one-to-many connection tools
15:04 How the blueprint phases connect to this moment in your business
17:15 Why 45-50 DMs in 90 minutes is a real time block, not a side hustle
19:07 Why warming people through email first makes DM outreach more effective
21:32 Connection needs a system, not a vibe
23:53 Preview of Step 6: enrolling

Quotes From This Episode

"Once you've narrowed down with your math who you need to talk to and how you're going to talk to them, this episode is actually about talking to them. Order of operations, y'all." - Jess

"This is the part of your coaching business where it's a contact sport. If you're not out making contacts, if your audience isn't big enough to support the vision you have, this is where you will fail." - Adam

"Don't sell in the DMs. Don't coach in the DMs. The only thing you do in connection is connect." - Adam and Jess

"Commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do long after the original mood you set it in had left you." - Adam

"Systems are just the standards you live by. If you don't have a system around connection, you have no standard for it. And that shows a lack of intentionality and care for the people you're trying to connect with." - Jess

"The same things you are doing to fill your one-to-one will not fill your one-to-many. You need a strategy and a standard of connection consistently over time." - Jess

"If it's not in the calendar, you guys, don't wing this part. A lot of us are really good wingers. Put connection into your calendar." - Adam

Resources + Next Steps

Download the free Get Paid to Coach guide at ilovecoachingco.com
Join the $10K+ Coaching Offer Challenge: ilovecoachingco.com/challenge
REAL Coach Method Membership: ilovecoachingco.com/discover
Missed Steps 1 through 4? Start at the beginning of this series so the order of operations makes sense
Jess's lead magnets: BigIdeasMadeSimple.com