Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I'm excited to be back with you. I am feeling a little slower, a little lower energy than usual. I had a migraine earlier today, which is rare for me. I don't get them very often, but I got slammed one today. And so I've took it easy. I slept a lot, took meds, and I also need to get this out. I feel better now.
Actually, my intention was to record this earlier, but it had to wait. And I'm glad I waited. So you might notice that I'm just in a different energy and that's okay. Obviously it's okay. I think it's just a good reminder sometimes, especially for you perfectionists out there that learned that you have to like put on a strong performance for people. I mean, every time you hit record, right?
Like there's a different frame of mind that comes online because I know that you're going to be listening to this, but I'm going to try to keep it as real as possible. Even with something that I have been thinking about a lot, and I knew I wanted to create a podcast on it. I'm calling it reasons to buy.
And it's because I'm thinking about, you know, as much as I love the inner work and I love, you know, the energetics and the spiritual conversation, which I'm still here for, and I'm still doing that every day with my clients. I also recognize that most of my clients find me because I'm their business coach. And so I wanted to give a more tangible, tactical, practical, I guess, episode based on May 2026. What's happening in the world?
What's happening in our industry? How do you create reasons to buy that are ethical, that are in integrity for you, but also that get you paid? I've been talking to a lot of creators on kind of both sides of the pendulum, right? Some people are really struggling right now. You know, sales cycles are taking longer. People are more skeptical. People aren't buying as quickly or as I would say, in the same volume that they were buying.
But I also have clients who are making sales and doing great. And my business is just steadily growing. And I'm not saying that to be like, yeah, look at me at all. But my business has been steadily growing, and I have been making sales and I have been signing clients. And I was thinking about that, because I'm also observing this phenomenon in the industry and with clients, where things are changing for them.
And they're figuring that out. And we're processing that. And so when I thought of this conversation, it felt like something that I really wanted to do for my community is almost like I'm imagining like a fireside chat, right? Like it's like you and me by the fire. And we're talking about the state of the industry. We're talking about your business. We're talking about what's working, what's not.
And my hope is, is that you integrate some of these things and put them into place so that people actually buy because that's the whole point of having a business is people buying. And I think sometimes for a lot of my clients, they have these huge hearts, they want to help, they want to make money, they want to make a difference.
But they also like want to create freedom and fund their dream life and make sure that there's an equal exchange happening where they're getting paid for their gifts, which I'm all here for. And something that we need to think through, aside from the energetics, which we'll talk about the energetics too, but like just tangible reasons for people to buy is an important part of business. And it's a skill set that you can develop.
I have said this through the years, but it's worth repeating. Business is literally just a stack of learnable skills. Everything else is the inner work. The conversation that I want to have today is like one of those skill sets, right? Like it's like a stack of learnable skills, creating an environment where people want to buy. I'm going to say that again, because this is key for everything you do in sales.
Creating an environment where people want to buy is a skill that you can develop. We do this on masterclasses, we do this on consults, we do this on social media, we do this in person, we do this in written form, long form, short form books, ebooks, we do this on PDFs, we do this in freebies, we do this in private podcasts, we do this on regular podcasts, like you name it, wherever you're showing up, thinking through how to create an environment where people want to buy is the key.
And that's like going to be the main premise of today. How do you create an environment where people want to buy? Let's take a little history lesson. Back in the day, at the beginning of the internet, someone could literally run an ad or post on a website, click here to lose 20 pounds. And people would click it and people would pay 50 bucks or whatever for the class or the pill, or whatever.
Click here to grow your business by 50%. And people would do it. Click here to get 10 new leads today, right? And people would do it because there was no complexity, there was no sophistication in the marketplace, it was brand new. And so over time, we got a little bit more complex and a little bit more complex and a little bit more sophisticated. So then it was like, I remember like, when I first came on to the online business scene, it was like masterclasses were really big.
So people would like host a masterclass and they would sell their $1,000 program and they would sell like a ton of spots. And what we're seeing right now is like, it's not that programs don't work, it's not that masterclasses don't work. But it's not as much of a frenzy as it was. Like it was a huge frenzy, I would say. This is a judgment. But like, I really do think it's kind of true. I think it was easier to sell stuff.
Eight years ago, I really do. Because things were new, things were exciting. The coaching industry was booming. And the coaching industry, guys, still is booming. Let's just be really clear. Like it still is. And there's also a complexity to that where people are more discerning. And I think that's a really good thing. I think we want our clients to be discerning.
What that means for us as value deliverers, as coaches, as guides, as people who are creating content on the internet, what that means for us is we need to give people real reasons to buy. And so I made a little list, I jotted some ideas down that I wanted to for sure talk to you guys about. So the first one I already said, like you have to create an environment where people feel like buying. That's number one.
And so like I said, that can be lots of different places. I'll just give you an example. In my world, like I just did Potentiality Protocols, right, which was like a week-long event on Substack. And the whole point of that was to create an environment where people felt like buying Quantum Play. And they did. And I also posted on social media and I also wrote emails about it.
But I really wanted to create an environment where people really got to know me and got their mind opened and like kind of felt my philosophy and my vibe, my personality, how I teach. So that when they hit buy now, there was like some resonance and relationship, which are two keys. Resonance and relationship are a huge aspect of what we're going to talk about today.
Because most people, at least the people that I'm interested in working with, I'm going to make the case that you are interested in working with. You are not their first rodeo. You are not their first purchase. You are not their first investment. My clients, I am not their first coach. Many of them have worked with coaches before and they are not new to coaching. And so when they find me, they have a history.
Some of it is like baggage, whether they were burned, whether they didn't have a great experience, where it was like kind of disappointing. And I get that. It's something that I'm willing to talk about because that's the reality of my group of people. And so you have to know who you're speaking to. Alternatively, I have clients who like they are the first coach for their clients. And so they have to kind of teach them how to think about investing and coaching and spending money like this.
And that's part of their process in their content is helping people break some beliefs about investing in themselves because they've never done it before. Whatever it is, we have to be able to have those kinds of conversations with our people because that's the reality is we need to be able to talk directly about investing and how they're thinking about it, what their scars are and have compassion, but also to help them move forward and make progress on their goals.
Not to get burned twice, right? If they invested in a way that didn't work out, but now you are presenting an opportunity for them to do it we don't want them to get burned twice. And so learning how to create an environment where they want to buy, creating a relationship and residence, meeting them where they're at is essential. So let's talk about some other things. So I jotted down ethical urgency and scarcity.
I know don't run away from those words. Stay with me. Stay with me. I know some of you get the ick when you hear urgency and scarcity. I still kind of get the ick. That's why I added ethical urgency and scarcity. But I'll give you an example. When I was doing quantum play, ethical urgency and scarcity, how I built that into my launch process was having an early bird discount. If you bought before a certain date, you got it for $111.
After that day it was $222. I had people buy it both. And then the program started. What I like about having an early bird is it gives you two kind of dates on the calendar where you get to use ethical urgency and scarcity. The first date is when the price goes up. And so you're kind of promoting the early bird. And then the second date is when the actual program starts.
And so I get two chances to have that urgency and scarcity ethically. I feel good about my reasons. If you don't love early bird, don't do it. I'm just offering an example of how that could look. It could also be a number of spots you're going to fill. It could be a price that goes up. It could be a bonus that disappears. That's actually the other thing that I wrote down was like a limited time bonus because last week was my birthday.
And I shared that on the podcast. But what you might not know is the whole week I was doing this little promo where if you enrolled in House of Abundance or you join Miracle Mind or you sign up for one-on-one sessions with me, you got to be invited to what I'm calling a quantum creation dinner at my house. And the only way to get that dinner was to enroll in one of those programs. And it felt really exciting to me. It worked.
People joined the programs at different levels. And now they get to come to my house and eat a yummy dinner and coach and mastermind. It was a limited time bonus. And so that's also another reason to buy. So those two things are more what I think of in terms of like marketing and like how we learned marketing. The third one is harder to wrap our heads around, which I lovingly call lighthouse marketing, which means that we're here until it's right for them. And this is a lot harder. This is longevity. This is trust.
This is staying power. This is relationship. This is you trusting your audience. So lighthouse marketing is you are okay showing up until your client is ready. This is how I personally enjoy creating one-on-one clients. I rarely, rarely do any bonuses or I never do discounts for one-on-one this way. But one-on-one is such a sacred relationship that I really create space for people to join one-on-one when they feel it gets the best time for them.
And so I think of this in terms of lighthouse marketing, where my job as the marketer, creator, coach, guide, mentor person is to show up consistently, graciously, lovingly, with value, with detachment over a long period of time. And I think this is the conversation that more people need to understand. A lot of people need to watch you and to interact with you sometimes for a long time.
Like I joke with a client that she literally watched me for 18 months before she hired me. She literally watched me on social media, listened to my podcast. She's like, I kind of stalked you. Like she was like very involved in my content and in my world and she didn't pay me any money for 18 months. And that's totally fine because that's the name of the game that we're up to. Some of you guys want to quit after three months.
Let's be real. I've been doing this for eight years. That's a long time. And so I have people that have been following me since day one. I've had people following me for six years. I've had a client that's worked with me for six years, seven years, seven years. I've had a client that's worked with me for seven years. There's some staying power here because the lighthouse metaphor, what it means to me is like, I'm here whether you're coming along or not, I'm here for you.
I'm going to fight for you. I'm going to fight for your dreams. I'm going to show up and share my little podcast and post my little posts. And I see you. I want you to be supported and I'm here for you. The problem with that is the timing is all in the hands of the client. So this is like marketing that's just building a relationship over time. It's like, are you willing to do that?
So kind of like the part two of that is I wrote down relationship with you versus other coaches. Like I said, for the most part, I am not my client's first coach. They find me later on their journey. And so what I know to be true is no one goes coach shopping for a business coach and hires me. That's not how I operate.
People hire me because we have a relationship, because there's resonance, because they like my perspective, because the way that my life philosophy lands for them does something because I hopefully give them value here on the podcast, on my sub stack, on Instagram for a long enough time that I build trust and rapport with them. They are not comparing me to other coaches.
And I think a lot of you need to hear that, which is hard because sometimes we get in this competition mindset and I'm like, there is no competition. That's not how it works. I've had clients that have hired my coach. I've had clients that have me in their corner and they're in other programs. I've had clients that enjoy working with me and then they go to work with another coach and then they come back and work with me.
I've had clients that have worked with me for three months and that's all we ever do together. And all of that is fine because it's not competition based. It's resonance based. Clients are going to go to where they resonate. And so if you feel like you are in competition with other people, like it's time to dig into that and clean that up. There is no competition. It's just you and you. It's not you in an algorithm.
It's not you and other coaches in your industry. It's just you and you, mostly your thoughts about your clients that you need to clean up. You should want them to win. And if that means it's not you that's supporting them, that's okay. So there's like this spirit of generosity and attachment. And genuine care that you want your clients to get what they want out of life and that they want to create the results that they want.
Whether you play a role in that or not. Ideally, you believe in what you do so much that you can see how you play a role. Like that's the beautiful part, right? When it's like you want them to get what they want and you can see how you're the person that can help them do that. That's when a sale happens. But until then, you have to see it as a relationship that you're building. There is not a competition.
Competition is a paradigm that you don't have to opt into. I used to. I used to. I'm not like so far beyond. But like I used to really struggle with the feeling of competition. And then the longer that I've been in the industry, the deeper I go with my clients, the more coaching that I get, the more support that I see, the more programs that I've invested in so I can see behind the scenes of them. Oh, like it's not about competition.
It's about resonance and relationship. And so your job is to get clear about the role that you play in your clients' lives. And I take that very seriously. When I think about my one-on-one clients, my beloved one-on-one clients who I love so much and we do deep work and we do life and business coaching, like I'm in a corner for so many different things. For a lot of my clients, I'm the person that they can say anything to. Anything. Anything. And I treat that as sacred. I really do.
Because I know what it's like to open up about things that you can't tell your partner. You can't tell your kids. You can't tell your friends. You can't tell your spouse. You can't tell your siblings. You can't tell your parents. I take that so seriously. It's like such a privilege and an honor and a responsibility.
So I make sure that I am coming from a very clean, energetic place where there is love and non-judgment and true, genuine support, obviously, while they're working with me. But that starts before they start working with me, where I have to demonstrate, and I really like that word, demonstrate my relationship, my value, how I think about them, how I care about them before they ever hire me.
And I think that's the advantage of having a podcast. I think that's the advantage of doing lives. And my DMs are very welcoming. I DM the people in my world, even if they're not a paying client. I will send a voice message back if you ask me a question or if you book a breakthrough call. I will be generous because I know I'm in it for the long game and I care about the sacredness of our relationship.
Like, it's a trusted relationship and it starts before I ever get paid. It's the same thing for you listening to this. It starts now. It started a long time ago. So if we want to create an environment where people feel like buying, that starts with their resonance and their relationship with you, where you are demonstrating your value, your trustworthiness, your integrity, your life philosophy, what you can help people with before they ever pay you. The last thing I wrote down is word of mouth. Reasons to buy.
Word of mouth is not going out of style. Word of mouth is everything. I have a client that has only built her business word of mouth. Actually, I have a few clients like that. Really, the only way that people find out about them is because of word of mouth, because of friends, because of acquaintances and colleagues and trusted resources.
And so one of the things that I think you can think through is like, what do you hope people are saying about you? Are you living that way? Are you creating an experience where they want to say that about you? On the quantum level, because I have to go here, is like, are you believing that that's an aspect of your business that is working?
Right? If you took quantum play with me, like dropping a pebble, are you dropping a pebble about how word of mouth plays a role in sales and new sales and recurring sales in your business? I think that's a huge aspect because one of the things that I wrote down is demand for analog.
And I think demand for analog as AI, you know, it's funny because like for a little bit, I was nervous like, okay, like if my clients could get coaching from AI at any point, why would they hire me? I'm like, oh my gosh, like silly brain. AI coaching is not the same as what I do at all. It's like night and day different. And so there's going to be this growing demand for analog.
That's why I offered the bonus dinner for clients to come to my literal house and like enjoy a meal with me. It's why I do retreats with my MiracleMinder 101 clients every year. It's why I do in-person meetups. It's why I do Voxer coaching with my private clients. It's why I do Zoom sessions. And many of my clients, we have real tangible relationships that last four years that AI cannot touch.
And I think this is good for all of you to think through. As the rise of AI continues to grow, there will be an increasing demand for analog experiences, off the internet experiences, real life experiences. How can you integrate that into your business? Can you offer in-person experiences? Can you offer phone? Like I do a phone call for my breakthrough call.
So when people are interested in working with me, I call them from my personal phone. I think it's really intimate. When clients do one-on-one with me, we do a VIP day where we meet in person and we talk about their business and their life and they see my face and I see them and we eat lunch together. There's a shared, common experience.
And I think thinking through that, like, even if you have to do it virtual, like I do things virtual, but like, could you send them gifts in the mail? Can you send them a drink? Can you send them a sweatshirt? Can you send them a gift? Can you send them a cup, water, a mug, a pen? Like, can we make it something tangible if we can?
Because I think these are things that are going to go above and beyond and it's what people are craving. So I shared some like strategies. I wanted to share some more of the energetics of like, what are the reasons to buy? So your conviction. If you aren't positive that you can help someone, you're not going to sell as, I would say, hard as you could. And I don't mean hard in like an evil way.
I think it means you believe in what you're doing and you're convicted about that. So your belief in your clients. I wrote a post that I think is so relevant, which is like, I used to do belief work for me and now I do belief work in my clients and that has made all the difference because, and I think a lot of you need to hear this, if you have wonky beliefs about your audience, your community, your clients, like you need to clean them up and you need to work on your beliefs about them.
If you have judgments, if you feel annoyed, if you feel like no one cares, that's actually a mirror for you to clean some of your thoughts up and beliefs up about your audience and your community and your clients. Another one is deep care. This should go without saying, but I'm going to say it, is like you should deeply care about your people because people can feel it.
If you haven't read The Gentle Art of Blessing, I think The Gentle Art of Blessing by Pierre Pradovand is such a good book that will help you clean up your judgments about your audience and your community and your clients, if you have those. The next one is real problem solving. This is actually where this came from. One of my prompts that I was thinking for this episode was like, how can I help people solve a real problem?
And I was like, well, I'm going to solve the problem today on like why people aren't buying in their world. And I think this episode will resonate because of that. Solve a real problem. If you had imagined that you were a fly on the wall, let's do this. Let's say you're a fly on the wall, like what would you see your client experiencing? How can you help them solve the problems that you're observing? The next one is a trusted resource. So this is probably the one that is closest to my heart for how I see my clients.
The number one goal I have is like, how can I be a trusted resource in their life for forever? Now it's a tall order, but it's how I feel. When they're paying me, before they pay me, after they pay me, I want to be a trusted resource in their life so that they feel like I'm someone that they can come to with questions, with hard things, with crisis, with dreams, with unexpected loss, with betrayal, with setbacks, with wins, and unrelatable results. I want to be able to be a trusted resource for my people. Again, there's a theme.
This starts long before they ever end up working with me. And so that's a word that I think you could contemplate. Like how do you become a trusted resource for your community? For me, this means being very open in my DMs to relationship building and conversations, generous sharing in my content, in the resources that I put out, with my energy, with my time. I have boundaries, of course, like I don't just like coach people for free in my DMs, but I am available to help and support and share my perspective.
And I've been doing it for a very long time, which builds that trust. The last thing that I wrote was just helping people make meaningful progress on their goals. So the goals that mean the most to them, like, are you actually helping them make progress on it? If you're like me, this has probably been my struggle. I get very ethereal. I get very existential.
I talk about philosophical things, and I'm not going to stop that because I like it and I think you guys like it. But I also know I have to come back to the 3D and help my clients with real problems in their business, which is exactly what I'm doing in this episode. And other times in House of Abundance, I do this. In Miracle Mind, I do this.
Sometimes we need a moment where we get back into the 3D, where we're talking about money, we're talking about sales, we're talking about marketing, we're talking about activations, and we're talking about their plan for the program that they want to launch, and we're talking about how to fill a mastermind, right, whatever it is. Those things need to be on the table too. And so I think you could take that and run with it in your own niche. Are you helping solve the 3D problems? Or are you only philosophical?
Ideally, we're doing a blend of both, your life philosophy and values and the things that you like to think about and talk about, but also like giving practical tactical support and help, especially as a coach in 2026, I think is essential. And so I want to share that. So to recap, creating an environment where people feel like buying. So that could be a masterclass. That could be a sub stack experience. That could be a Voxer event.
That could be a podcast episode. It could be a live on Instagram. It could be a mini program. I mean, it could be a YouTube video. It doesn't really matter, but creating an environment where people feel like buying, creating an activation experience where they want to say yes. Having ethical urgency and scarcity, like why should they buy this now?
If you take away anything from this episode, write that down on the top of your paper in your journal. Why should my people buy now and come up with reasons? And if you haven't shared those reasons in an email, on a post, in a podcast, it might be time to do that. Bonuses as another reason for people to buy, making it limited time. Lighthouse marketing. So you're here until it works. You're here until they're ready.
You're focusing on the relationship with you because there is no competition. You're remembering the role, the sacred role that you play for your clients for real. Some of you guys, like the role that you play for your clients, there is no one else in their life that does what you do. I know that's true for my clients.
Like the role that I play in their life and the relationship that we have, there is no one else that can do that for them the way that I'm not a family member. So I have this detached third party perspective. I have skills and experience. And I would say like this well of wisdom and everything that I've studied and everything that I've contemplated through my life, that like in a session, I can bring it to them in a way that no one else can in their life.
And I'm not saying there's not other coaches that could support them, of course. But for me and the role that I play, it's sacred. The demand for analog going up. So like tangible, tactile things. How can you introduce more of that? How can you prioritize and believe in word of mouth? How can you have more conviction and belief and deep care? How can you solve better problems? How can you be a trusted resource?
And how can you help them make progress on meaningful goals? Those are all the things that I wrote down and shared with you today. So in the spirit of this, I wanted to invite you, if you haven't joined House of Abundance, my group coaching program, I want to give you a reason to buy. And it's not going to be, there's no extra bonus, there's no discount or anything.
But I wanted to share in real time that this is what we're doing together in House of Abundance this month. I guess it would be in June. In June, we're going to talk about reasons to buy and the importance of that and how any business owner needs to be thinking about this. And so if you have been eyeing House of Abundance, if you have wanted to work with me, if you've been following my podcast for a long time, why not now make the leap into House of Abundance? It's a year long program.
It's $1,200 or $120 a month. And we do business work and we do wealth consciousness work in the program. And so if you want my help coming up with clear reasons for people to buy from you, this would be an amazing time to jump into the program. You can go to itsambersmith.com/house and join us in the month of June. We're going to be really focusing on what are the reasons for people to buy from you.
The other thing that I'll share, this isn't for everyone, but for some of you, I'm doing a summer special where I'm calling it the summer sessions where there's two private calls with me every month in June, July and August. So six total sessions and private Voxer. This is ideal for the person who wants to work. This is not for the person who wants to take the summer off.
This is ideal for the person who wants to work, wants to play, wants their summer to be spacious. So they kind of want both. They want to be able to create momentum in their business, but also not miss out on anything. Their kids or their partner or their spouse or travel. They want the best of both worlds. And so I created the summer sessions. And so you can check that out at itsambersmith.com/summer. I think I only have two spots available for that by the time this is coming out.
And then once June hits, it's over because it's just happening in June, July and August. So again, www.itsambersmith.com/summer or itsambersmith.com/house. Choose your own adventure, right? If you want one-on-one, choose the summer sessions. If you want the group program, join House of Abundance. And I appreciate you all listening. Give your people reasons to buy. Go make some money. Go create some clients, make some progress. And I'll talk to you next time. All right. Bye.
