Transitioning From An 8-Figure Business To Coaching with Russel Dubree [LNIM230]

Thinking about starting a coaching business? In this episode, I interview 8-figure entrepreneur Russel Dubree about his pivot to coaching. Understanding why Russel is moving to coaching and how he is approaching his coaching practice will give you insight into your own coaching journey.

Show Notes

It is absolutely possible for you to do near anything that you want when it comes to starting a business online. Whatever you’re doing today, you can pivot and change your life by starting an online business and one such business that you can start is coaching.

My friend Russell Dubree, an accomplished entrepreneur, is an example. He’s had an eight figure service business and now he’s pivoting to coaching.

Rusty came out of the Air Force and always had an entrepreneurial knack. He and a business partner started an online business building wedding websites and they had a little bit of success there. Then they started selling websites and made a name for themselves in the Dallas area.

Fast forward a decade and a half, they were making a little shy of 10 million in revenue with about 40 or so team members…and then he decided to sell the business.

What makes a guy walk away from an eight figure business? Rusty shared that he didn’t have a particular trade or skill that brought him into the web design industry. He was passionate about helping clients and about his team but it got to the point where he thinks he had done all he could do in that space. He thinks there are other people that can fill these shoes better than he can. And so he looked forward to his next passion, something he will feel challenged with, his next growth phase and journey and in his life or career.

Rusty has a natural passion for coaching and just enjoys helping others, so that was what he was looking at the next phase of his journey. He built the experience, has a long list of things you should and shouldn’t do – he can go help other business owners achieve the level of success that he got to or even better, with a lot less stress and headache in the process.

It was a serious financial decision so there were risks but the big impetus in his decision is a quote from Ray Dalio:

“Imagine that in order to have a great life you have to cross a dangerous jungle. You can stay safe where you are and have an ordinary life, or you can risk crossing the jungle to have a terrific life. How would you approach that choice? Take a moment to think about it because it is the sort of choice that, in one form or another, we all have to make.”

This new journey is a challenge and dusting off skill sets that he hasn’t used for over a decade is reinvigorating and fun.

What helped Rusty bring in clients in the early stages was getting niche in his positioning. When he was talking to people that had been in the same space as him, he was just able to rattle off so much more value to that person in a short amount of time. He embraced this and focused on his niche because that’s where he has the most experience and that’s where he can provide the most impact.

Building his niche enabled him to also build a list of exact names of people that are his ideal clients. It became a manageable list that he can go and target.

He has two sales processes and phase one is simply a getting-to-know phase to help build a relationship. Step two is an alignment session where he gets to know the client’s business with the goal of giving two to three nuggets of perspectives and his take on it. The clients get some value out of that conversation, regardless of how the coaching relationship goes. They get a taste for what a long term coaching relationship might be like with him.

When going into a coaching business, Rusty advises to know exactly who you want to help and determine what that very specific solution that you’re going to be really good at helping that person with. Also, he shares that part of being a great coach is not only the knowledge you have, but how you get the best out of other people.

Links Mentioned In This Episode

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