Why Your Coaching Messaging Is Falling Flat (Maslow's Mountain Pt. 1)
Maslow's Mountain is not just a psychology concept. It is the lens through which you should run everything in your coaching business: your positioning, your messaging, your marketing, and every client conversation. The biggest mistake coaches make is standing at the top of their own mountain and throwing a rope down to someone at base camp while saying "the view is incredible up here, come on." You are trying to pull someone's full body weight up a mountain. It doesn't work. The job is to go down and meet them, pack the bag with them, and walk next to them all the way up. That is the shift from hero to Sherpa, and it is the entire foundation of this series.
"It is truly the lens or the filter through which you should run everything in your business."Jess Webber · I Love Coaching Podcast
Look at your Instagram bio, your website headline, or the first thing you say when someone asks what you do. Now ask yourself: which level of the mountain is that language speaking to? Is it a base camp message, speaking to where your avatar actually is right now? Or is it a summit message, speaking to where you are and where they aspire to be someday? If it reads like summit language, your messaging is working against gravity. Head to ilovecoachingco.com and grab the free Get Paid to Coach Guide to start this work with Adam and Jess.
Show Notes + Resources
What You'll Learn
- The five levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applied to coaching: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization
- Why coaches get stuck speaking from Level 5 to someone still at base camp
- How to identify which level of the mountain your avatar is on right now, not where you wish they were
- The hero-to-Sherpa shift: what it actually means to be a guide instead of a guru
- Why safety and trust have to come before belonging, esteem, and transformation
- How Maslow's Mountain applies to one-on-one coaching, community building, and keynote speaking
- Why "I help people reach their full potential" is one of the most dangerous sentences in a coach's bio
Key Themes
- Maslow's Hierarchy as a business and messaging filter
- The five levels: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization
- The coach's trap: speaking from the summit to someone at base camp
- Hero vs. Sherpa positioning (Donald Miller / StoryBrand)
- Trust as the foundation of client retention
- Esteem needs and the role of community in client transformation
Memorable Lines
- "It is truly the lens or the filter through which you should run everything in your business." — Jess Webber
- "You are at the top of the mountain yelling down, come on kid, you can reach your full potential. And all they want to do is be able to pay their bills." — Adam Roach
- "You are most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were."
- "Stop trying to pull somebody up. Meet them at base camp, pack the bag with them, and walk next to them."
Resources Mentioned
- Get Paid to Coach free guide: ilovecoachingco.com/get-paid-to-coach
- REAL Coach Method Membership: ilovecoachingco.com/discover
- Instagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebber
- YouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingco
No matter where you are in your coaching journey, ILC has a resource built for you.
The I Love Coaching Podcast is hosted by Adam Roach and Jess Webber of I Love Coaching Co. New episodes drop weekly wherever you listen to podcasts.