Dec. 1, 2025

Why Most Life Coaches Sound the Same (And How to Stand Out)

Send us a text The most powerful moment in a coaching journey isn’t a new certification or a perfect framework—it’s the instant you stop sounding like everyone else and finally sound like you. We walk through why that shift unlocks trust, sparks honesty, and turns scripted sessions into real transformation for clients who are ready to do the work. We start by naming the feeling of being coached by someone fully present: no checklist, no performance, just a live conversation tuned to where yo...

Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon YouTube podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon YouTube podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon

Send us a text

The most powerful moment in a coaching journey isn’t a new certification or a perfect framework—it’s the instant you stop sounding like everyone else and finally sound like you. We walk through why that shift unlocks trust, sparks honesty, and turns scripted sessions into real transformation for clients who are ready to do the work.

We start by naming the feeling of being coached by someone fully present: no checklist, no performance, just a live conversation tuned to where you are. From there, we dig into how authenticity invites truth and why clients can’t change what they’re still hiding. You’ll hear a candid story about moving beyond a single style, blending life coaching with performance coaching to bridge the gap between insight and action. That hybrid approach helps clients break internal barriers, address external constraints, and leave each call with a clear plan they’re excited to follow.

Along the way, we tackle the real reasons coaches imitate others—comparison and insecurity—and offer a practical path forward. Think practice over perfection, feedback over approval, and scripts as temporary training wheels rather than permanent crutches. We share specific ways to lean into intuition, refine your questions, and listen for the moment when a session needs to pivot from reflection to commitment. You’ll also learn why community matters so much: a small circle that gives honest notes will surface your strengths faster than coaching alone ever will.

If you’ve felt the tug to find your own cadence, this conversation is your permission slip. Treat your voice as a tool, not a brand. Use it to model the courage you ask from clients, and watch the room change when you do. Subscribe for more practical coaching insights, share this episode with a coach who needs it today, and leave a review to help others discover the show.

Interested in elevating your coaching skills and accelerating your clients’ growth?

Become a Certified Life Coach!

Join the waitlist:

https://www.modernleadership.us/mastery



Chapters

00:00 - The Power Of A True Voice

00:20 - Recall A Personalized Coaching Moment

00:52 - Authenticity Builds Trust

01:10 - Practice Over Perfection

01:30 - Why Coaches Imitate Others

01:46 - Scripts As Training Wheels

02:08 - Lean Into Intuition

02:28 - Finding A Hybrid Approach

03:00 - Building A Supportive Community

03:24 - The Bigger Transformation Tease

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.160
There's this moment we love seeing.

00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.040
A coach finally stops copying other coaches and finds their own voice.

00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.720
What does that actually look like?

00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.320
It's pure alignment.

00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.320
They're not trying to be like anybody else.

00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.199
And you can see that they trust your intuition, their tone, and their timing.

00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:19.839
That's when clients connect with them the most.

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.079
So I want you to think about a time when you were either coached or led by someone else.

00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:32.560
Someone who wasn't following a checklist or a script, but was being very present with you and personalizing the session based off of where you were.

00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:34.079
What did that feel like?

00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:35.359
How did that help you?

00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.000
And how confident did you feel knowing that you're both gonna figure this out together?

00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:44.560
Now that's what it's gonna feel like to your clients when you find your voice too.

00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.079
Because the truth is, is they found you for a reason.

00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:52.000
That's why being yourself is exactly who your client needs you to be.

00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:53.119
Here's why.

00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:00.719
Authenticity actually builds trust, it allows them to feel the freedom of actually being truthful with you as well.

00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:06.560
Because if you're trying to coach people and they're holding things back from you, it's really difficult to be able to help them transform.

00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.000
And how best we can do that is by modeling the behavior first.

00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:21.120
Now I want to let you know that your true voice develops through practice, through repetition, through feedback, not through perfection, not copying people, and not following a script.

00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.239
It's about using your voice and your strengths.

00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:29.760
That's why today's quote is your voice isn't something to find, it's something to remember.

00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.799
So why do you think coaches try to sound like someone else?

00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.719
I find this comes up because of comparison and really insecurity.

00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:44.159
When in fact, their client signed up for them to hear their story, to get their coaching, and to get their help.

00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.560
How does authenticity change their coaching?

00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:50.319
Really, they make the session about their client, not about themselves.

00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.920
Can you tell us what helps a coach rediscover their voice?

00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:57.040
Practice, feedback, and rinse and repeat.

00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.799
The truth is, is in the beginning, sometimes you might want to follow a script.

00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:05.760
Sometimes you might want to have a process that you go through because that will help you find your voice.

00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.879
But anytime it feels off, we want to call out to that.

00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:14.639
We want to lean into our intuition and we want to figure out a way how best to communicate that in our own voice.

00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:17.199
Because, like we said, that's what our clients signed up for.

00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:26.080
And when we can remind ourselves of this and we're willing to take action, to get feedback and to level that up, that's exactly the kind of voice that your clients need.

00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.000
Somebody who's modeling the behavior for them.

00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.039
So let me give you an example of when it actually happened to me.

00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:34.319
So when I first started to coach, I went through a certification.

00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.840
And the certification taught me how to understand not only the subconscious mind, but it was really focused on life coaching.

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.639
What I found is I started to just sound like and ask the same questions that my instructor did.

00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:46.800
But I felt like there was a piece that was missing there.

00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:51.280
And for me, I discovered it was actually combining life coaching with performance coaching.

00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:57.199
But in the moment, if I had just continued to go on that path, I would just have been a duplicate of the coach that was teaching me.

00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:10.240
And so I decided to go out to find something that would help me learn how to actually not only understand how the brain works, but how to get people to perform so they can break through both the internal and external barriers and leave the call with a plan to take action.

00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.680
Because I never like to leave people just trying to figure it out on their own.

00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:19.120
And so when I was able to find these two and marry them up together, that's why we do this inside of our certification.

00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.680
Because I didn't want to just do exactly what everybody else did.

00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:25.439
I felt there was a missing piece, but I was willing to lean in and develop it.

00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.840
And now that's what we teach other people how to do too.

00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:38.080
Inside of our certification, we see people developing into their natural voice by just having those conversations and being willing to share where they're at and get some guidance and feedback along the way.

00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:41.520
So if you don't have a group where you can do that, definitely find one.

00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.000
It'll help you develop your voice on another level.

00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:50.000
Now, when a coach finds their voice, everything changes, not just for their clients, but for themselves too.

00:03:50.159 --> 00:04:00.159
But in our final breakthrough, we'll talk about a moment that every coach eventually has, which is realizing that coaches transform a lot more than just their clients.

00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.319
But you have to keep your eye open for it, or you might very well miss it in the sessions.

00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.520
We'll share that in our final lesson in this series.