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Is Life Coaching a Pyramid Scheme? The Truth Every Coach Needs to Hear · Six Figure Certified

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, everyone.
• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to another episode of six figure certified today.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about the misconception of life coaching, being an MLM.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have ever googled this or if you've ever googled is coaching an MLM or a pyramid scheme or network marketing, you may have gotten a bunch of different answers.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to clear things up.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to kind of,
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: break it down for you and the most simplest terms possible.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then also explain how coaching in and of itself is not an MLM.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not network marketing.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely not a pyramid scheme.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a skill set that is typically offered in a school type learning environment, but we're going to get there in a minute.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: But let's talk about this stuff.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Quite MLM.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you've heard of this, I know there's so many funny connotations like all the girls from high school who are
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: DMing you, hey girl, or there's other memes where it's like all these girls that look the same in the knee high boot.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: So an MLM is a legal business model.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I actually have nothing personal like against an MLM.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: It stands for multi-level marketing, so it's basically where
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: you earn money from selling a product or a service, typically find that it's a product, and then recruiting other people who also want to sell this.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know a lot of women in particular, who have been very successful in these worlds, like you can think of skincare supplements, essential oils, let's not forget about that one, different protein powders, all of that.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is an MLM or multi-level marketing company.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to drop any names, but if you know, you know,
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pyramid schemes on the other hand are illegal.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't get yourself caught up in one of these, okay?
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is where money is primarily only made through recruiting people, and there's little to know real product or value.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that much about this particular world.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have seen different posts and different news stories about companies coming under fire, getting shut down.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: and ultimately the people who were making money from these companies losing everything overnight.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is the real reason why I like to own 100% of everything that I have, but I do see that MLMs can support, especially a woman who's just trying to make a little bit of money on the side.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: She's sharing things on the internet anyway.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And often I'm like, you know what, just like I'll credit Tony Robbins for introducing a lot of people to self help.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can give network marketing companies and MLMs some credit for introducing women to often a quick and easy path to entrepreneurship.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the end of the day, not all M&M's, all M&M's are good.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not all MLMs are pyramid schemes, but
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every pyramid scheme does disguise itself as some type of amazing opportunity.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I also think of coaching as an amazing opportunity.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just definitely not a disguise though.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's look at some of the nuances here and some of my actual perspective.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like I don't think MLMs are evil, but I do think that they are often misunderstood.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think they're dependable for longevity or long-term income necessarily.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, there are some exceptions to that rule, but anyone can look up the research and look up the numbers on how many people are actually successful in these business models and it is very small.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, a lot of people are arguably not successful in coaching either the one caveat to that is that coaches who do go through proper training and who do have credentials.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: or successful at much higher levels, much higher levels.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So no matter what coaching MLM network marketing, even a god for a second pyramid scheme, you've got to still work.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to still work.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I just refer to work for something that I fully own and no one can pull it out from under my feet.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: key differences, coaching is a service.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a skill that you provide.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can provide it to individuals, so like consumers, you can sell coaching services to businesses.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is a service.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a product line.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot recruit other people to sell my coaching services.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can train people under me and I can hire contractors or employees or trainers, of course, but I am not
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: a percentage of the money that they earn.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's no recruitment required for coaching.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In order to be successful in a multi-level marketing or networking opportunity, typically you do need to recruit people to kind of build a team to make real money in those industries.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: also you don't typically get to decide on the pricing when it comes to selling someone else's products.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: So in coaching, you price your own services.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously if you work for another company, I employ many coaches and trainers and of course we have pay scales that we use and coaching package prices that we use.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, if they're coaching for themselves or working for themselves, the price, the niche, the offer, the branding, who you work with, how you work with them, that is 100% up to you as a business owner.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: You are not under someone else and you are not required to recruit people to work exactly like you work or sell exactly like you sell.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's no upline or downline structure when it comes to a coaching business.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't own any percentage or amount of any single one of our graduates businesses ever in the history of the company, which is going on 12 years old.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't own any of it, any income that anyone makes, which has ranged from a couple thousand dollars a month, to multi-million dollar years, is a hundred percent theirs.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just like if you went too Harvard, I don't know why that came to mind.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe because it's in the news a bit lately.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, Harvard, you don't pay Harvard a percentage of your earnings in whatever industry you make all of your money in, okay?
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the same thing.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: IGC is the school and in any ICF accredited institution is a school which teaches you a skill which then can help you start and grow a coaching business.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is no upliner downline.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's no percentage owed back to me or IGC if that is the route you are going.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: kind of lastly, I'm going to try to keep this episode quick.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your income as a coach is skill-based.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not only to have to be a great coach and you have to learn business skills if that's the route you're going to take and obviously you can coach internally.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can use coaching as a skill that it improves your earning potential or increases your earning potential, but your income is truly skill-spaced.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is not hierarchy-based.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't get paid for your ability to recruit people.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: you don't move up tears based on how many people are underneath you.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: You may increase your prices because you're better or in demand or you have a higher credential level or that's just the price you choose but in no way shape or form is your income based
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, in coaching, you do not get paid for who you bring in, you only get paid for the value that you create in the human beings that you work with.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, you're paid by your clients, whether those are individuals or businesses.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, the other big, big, big, big, big, big different.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I say this all the time, the I see have honestly should pay me for this.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: But ICF accredited training cannot be an MLM.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a big piece.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like the ICF is a governing body with ethical standards.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So accredited programs must follow these guidelines of training, mentor coaching, evaluations, confident reality, and an ICF accredited school cannot ethically or legally, as far as I know, operate as any type of MLM or network marketing.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: commissions or referral percentages if people want to send their friends, you know, a couple hundred dollars to refer a friend to our program, sure.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it is not tied to any bit of their certification or the legitimacy of it.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is not tied to their ability to coach whatsoever.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is no requirement to refer anyone to IGC ever, ever, ever in the history of anything.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, and there's no income, claim tied to bringing in other students,
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: true coaching education is just that it's education, it's professional training, it is not recruitment.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, nothing is wrong with recruitment or MLM models.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, I have a little bit of a soft spot for them.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anything that kind of gets a woman who needs money, it gives them a taste of that, get the taste of the freedom that having your own business can have, bye.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, some of these places operate completely unethically.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen so many of them over the last 10, 15 years, just completely
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't condone that at all, which is why I'm like if you're going to invest in a business invest in coaching because it is the most transferable skill on the planet where you can package it for individuals, courses, programs, speaking, books, um,
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously one among clients group programs retreats like it is endless and the thing about it is and I think this is why so many people can Really become successful in the coaching industry is because to be educated in coaching means you have to also coach yourself
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to get out of your own freaking way.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to learn those skills.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: You have to be a better, more empowered human on such a regular basis.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, if you're doing that for your clients, you have to do that for yourself.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it is that self coaching that you do, that allows you to become so successful.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, I'm a stand for coaching.
• 9:41
  [UNKNOWN]: Okay.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not mad at some of the MLMs that give women that platform to, or in their own money, make a difference, feel more on purpose, live more on purpose, be more on purpose.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And one other thing I will say, got a lot of coffee today.
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: is I don't mind the network marketing style as like a compliment to a coaching business too.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're doing health coaching, maybe you also partner with a program that is built on this model because you're gonna be sharing these supplements that you love with your clients anyway.
• 10:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's built into your coaching package.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of opportunity there to partner with that.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have seen too many horror stories come out of them for it to be the soul income that you rely on.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right, last thing, if you are really, really looking for a business where you actually own 100% of your own income, your own impact, the direction of your company, so say you want to work with individuals right now, but you want to have the ability to transfer that coaching model or methodology that you develop over time and bring it into an organization
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Coaching is for you.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is it's just such a no-brainer.
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Coaching is the fastest and easiest way to get into entrepreneurship.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you want that you want to go coaching.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you are more interested in selling a supplement that you love or some type of product that you love and maybe I will say typically I believe that getting in and partnering with a network marketing company or an MLM is a little bit cheaper than a coach training education but it can be a soft step that you can take into entrepreneurship.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: into learning marketing, into learning visibility online, connection, sales, community building, all of those things are possible through there, but you have to keep in mind that you are not going to own 100%.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you sell a product that's $30, you are not keeping all of that $30, you are responsible for recruiting more versions of you, which I believe is kind of where it gets a little bit
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know that there are reputable companies out there.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is not like a heck no for me.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a caution and just the whole episode is meant for you to understand the difference.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there's a lot of coaches coaching coaches.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could fall into that category if you think about it.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: but the reality is most of the coaches that are trained and credentialed are actually doing the work of coaching there, running their own business, they are working with clients, whether their individuals are businesses, they own 100% of their income, their ideas, whatever proprietary tools that they create, all of that stuff is fully owned by them,
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: They can work with all different clients.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: They can work with business owners.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: They can work with burnt out moms.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: They can do health coaching, relationship coaching, executive coaching, leadership coaching.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: My gosh, I could go on and on.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, business marketing sales, anything.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's all I have.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember coaching is not about building a downline.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is not about building a team.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is about creating transformation with your clients.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I will stand on this belief until the day I die that coaching is the fastest and easiest way to get into entrepreneurship.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: You just have to be willing to work.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is not a job.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is not a business model for someone who does not want to work.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Coaching requires work, intentional work, grounded work, purposeful work, but it can absolutely be a game changing profession for someone who really wants to make a difference.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope this was helpful.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have questions, please leave them in the comments and share.
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was someone who is thinking about putting their job and taking the next steps as a non-truppinore.
• 13:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk to you next time.