Glossary: Start a Coaching Business

Every key term from the course, in plain English. When a lesson says a word you don't know, it lives here.

The Mirror Rule

You never hand the client answers — you reflect their own thinking back until they can see it clearly. Advice creates dependence; reflection creates ownership.

The Question Stack

Ask a question, listen, then ask one question that goes a single level deeper. Three layers down is where breakthroughs live.

The Coach's Line

The bright boundary between coaching and therapy. Clinical issues — trauma, depression, disorders — always get referred out, no exceptions.

Discovery call

A free 30-minute conversation to determine fit. You listen 80%, talk 20%, and end with a direct invitation — never free coaching.

Niche

Your who + problem + outcome in one sentence. "I help [who] achieve [outcome] without [pain]." Specificity is what makes it sellable.

Coaching program

A fixed-length container (usually 8–12 weeks) with sessions, support, and a promised arc — sold once, delivered over time. Beats single sessions on every axis.

Powerful question

Open, under ten words, and genuinely curious. "What do you actually want?" — never advice wearing a question costume.

Deep listening

Tracking energy and exact words, not just content. Includes the two-second pause that routinely surfaces the truest thing in the session.

Session arc

The 60-minute structure: Land (5), Explore (20), Focus (15), Commit (10), Close (10). Protect Focus and Commit.

Onboarding

Welcome email + signed agreement + intake form before session one. Sets the professional tone for the whole engagement.

Founding rate

A deliberate discount (e.g. 30% off) for your first five clients, traded for testimonials and feedback — strategy, not desperation.

Ideal client

The specific person your niche serves. If you can't picture them — their job, their struggle, their Tuesday — your niche is still fog.

Transformation

What the client is actually buying: the change from stuck to moving. Sell the transformation; deliver it through the process.

Boundary

A written rule that keeps the practice sustainable: office hours, response times, pause policy, the missed-session rule. First exception becomes permanent.

Re-enrollment

The renewal conversation two sessions before a program ends. Some clients continue, some graduate — all three outcomes are wins.