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EPISODE #51

Why I’ll Never Give Up 1:1 Client Work — And Why You Might Not Want to Either

Joannaig Square@2x

You’ve heard the advice: once your business scales, drop the 1:1s. Focus on leverage. Build your groups. But what if that’s not the whole story? In this episode, I share why I’ve kept private client work at the heart of my business — even as everything else has grown — and why it continues to fuel not just my revenue, but my joy, skillset, and thought leadership.

If you’ve ever questioned whether 1:1 work is still “worth it,” or felt torn between group scalability and the intimacy of private sessions, this conversation will offer clarity, permission, and a fresh perspective. 1:1 work isn’t just something to graduate from — it might be the very thing that elevates everything else you do.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • Why 1:1 work is deeply soul-satisfying (when you have the right skills) 
  • The types of clients who truly need a private container 
  • How your 1:1 skills improve your curriculum and group facilitation 
  • The powerful role 1:1 work plays in your marketing and messaging 
  • Why private sessions can be a secret incubator for your best ideas 

Whether you’re in love with your 1:1 work or wondering if it’s time to let it go, this episode will help you reconnect to what matters most in your practice — and trust the business model that’s truly aligned with your strengths.

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Transcript00:00:05 Joanna Lindenbaum

I’m Joanna Lindenbaum, a coach ritualist and all around transformation nerd who is obsessed with helping clients go deep to create more change and results with their clients. I created the coaching.00:00:20 Joanna Lindenbaum

Revolution podcast to share with you coaching skills, tips and advice as well as a deeper understanding of human behavior and.00:00:29 Joanna Lindenbaum

Of yourself so that you can do even better client work and group work. Grow your business organically.00:00:37 Joanna Lindenbaum

And know that you’re making a real difference in the world. This is about creating a revolution in the transformational industry so that more practitioners feel amazing.00:00:40Ohh.00:00:49 Joanna Lindenbaum

About what they do and so that more of our clients experience life changing shifts, let’s get started.00:01:03 Joanna Lindenbaum

Hi there. Welcome back to the Coaching Revolution podcast. I am so glad that you’re here today. We’re going to talk about something that goes against a lot of conventional business wisdom in the coaching and transformational world.00:01:20 Joanna Lindenbaum

It’s the idea that.00:01:21 Joanna Lindenbaum

Once your business grows and becomes more leveraged.00:01:26 Joanna Lindenbaum

With group programs and courses and memberships.00:01:29 Joanna Lindenbaum

All that scalable.00:01:30 Joanna Lindenbaum

Stuff that you should stop offering one-on-one work. You’ve probably heard this advice before, right? Sounds something like this one-on-one. Work isn’t a good use of your time. Or if your clients need that kind of support, they’re not ready for your program.00:01:50 Joanna Lindenbaum

Or just simply leverage leverage leverage.00:01:54 Joanna Lindenbaum

Now I am definitely not here to throw shade on scalability. I love my group programs. I love seeing clients connect in community, witnessing each other growing together. I run a lot of group offerings.00:02:15 Joanna Lindenbaum

And they are central central to my business model and I, of course teach about how to create incredible and life changing group courses and experiences.00:02:28 Joanna Lindenbaum

But there is something also about private work, that sacred, focused, intimate one-on-one container that I personally will never give up.00:02:45 Joanna Lindenbaum

No matter how large my business gets, no matter how many students I’m serving in groups or courses.00:02:54 Joanna Lindenbaum

I always keep space for private clients and today I want to share with you why I think one-on-one work isn’t just still relevant but essential for you as a practitioner for your clients.00:03:13 Joanna Lindenbaum

For your business strategy and honestly for the future of the coaching and the transformational fields. So let’s get into it, but ohh actually before we do.00:03:26 Joanna Lindenbaum

Have you seen that I’m offering a three hour community workshop on the fear of rejection? It’s called unshaken. How to face rejection and keep going. And inside of that workshop, we’re going to unpack your fear of or sensitivity to.00:03:46 Joanna Lindenbaum

Rejection to make it a little bit easier to put yourself out there in the world to be seen and visible to mark it.00:03:56 Joanna Lindenbaum

And to really speak your truth, instead of avoiding all of those things because you’re too scared of what people will think or you’re scared of not belonging, or of getting that no, that none of us like to get, or even worse, hearing crickets all of that. I know it can hurt so much.00:04:17 Joanna Lindenbaum

And so these three hours will be rich and we’ll be using somatic methods as well as going deep Jungian style into the Hans Christian Andersen on ugly duckling Tail.00:04:31 Joanna Lindenbaum

You’ll walk away with the workshop with more courage, more inspiration and motivation to show up in the ways that you really want to in the world, and to maybe not take things so personally. And by the way, I say that as someone who is always working.00:04:51 Joanna Lindenbaum

On taking things not so personally. So I’ll go ahead and put the information for the unshaken workshop in the show notes.00:05:01 Joanna Lindenbaum

OK, now let’s get into it. The five reasons why I’ll never give up one-on-one work, no matter how big my business gets. And here’s reason #1.00:05:17 Joanna Lindenbaum

The private work is sole filling.00:05:22 Joanna Lindenbaum

If you have the skills, so let’s start here when you know how to do powerful one-on-one work, and I mean when you know how to really hold space, track energy. Listen deeply, ask breakthrough questions, work schematically with fear.00:05:41 Joanna Lindenbaum

And shadow and guide clients towards insight and transformation. It is so incredibly satisfying you get to sit in the fire and in the shadows with another human being.00:06:00 Joanna Lindenbaum

To witness their pain and their power to help them see themselves more clearly, develop deeper compassion, claim their gifts and unwind patterns that have held them back for years, maybe even decades.00:06:20 Joanna Lindenbaum

There are so many moments in one-on-one private sessions that are nothing less than sacred. Now, if you don’t have the skills.00:06:34 Joanna Lindenbaum

One-on-one work can feel heavy and draining, and like you’re shouldering everything like you’re pulling your clients forward with your own life force.00:06:46 Joanna Lindenbaum

When you don’t have the skills, you don’t really feel like you’re in your purpose, and that’s real and that’s why it’s so important.00:06:57 Joanna Lindenbaum

To be continually, continually developing and refining your transformational toolkit to always be on top of your coaching game, this is one of the million reasons why the sacred depths transformational practitioner training continues to be my flagship training program.00:07:17 Joanna Lindenbaum

I am so, so passionate about training leaders in potent one-on-one skills and when you do.00:07:25 Joanna Lindenbaum

Have those skills.00:07:28 Joanna Lindenbaum

Your one-on-one sessions can become so energizing and so, so deeply impactful.00:07:36 Joanna Lindenbaum

For both you and your client, it’s really one of the most potent places for transformation to happen. And honestly, it’s often one of the most fun places to work as a practitioner.00:07:52 Joanna Lindenbaum

OK, so that brings us to reason #2 why I am never going to give up one-on-one work, no matter how big my business gets.00:08:03 Joanna Lindenbaum

Some clients truly need the private work.00:08:10 Joanna Lindenbaum

So here’s something else I think we don’t say enough in the coaching and transformational industries.00:08:18 Joanna Lindenbaum

Not every client is meant for a group program. This is just the truth. Even the best designed groups, the ones with high touch support, really good, clear curriculum, deep connection. They aren’t going to be right.00:08:38 Joanna Lindenbaum

For every client at every stage.00:08:42 Joanna Lindenbaum

Some clients are going to need more hand holding and tighter containers, the kind of tight container that only a one-on-one can provide.00:08:54 Joanna Lindenbaum

Some clients, they just feel safer in an intimate, more focused space. And if you’re the right person to guide them through something important, I say, why send them away? It’s such a gift to be able to offer another human being.00:09:15 Joanna Lindenbaum

That kind of attention.00:09:19 Joanna Lindenbaum

To hold a space that’s truly customized to their growth and healing, that can be life changing, and it builds tremendous trust. And it is so satisfying.00:09:36 Joanna Lindenbaum

Here is the third reason as I make the case for not giving up one-on-one work or only doing programs. Here’s the third reason your curriculum gets better when you’re strong in your one-on-one skills.00:09:57 Joanna Lindenbaum

Here’s something a lot of leaders don’t realize when they design groups. The level of your one-on-one skills directly affects the quality of your curriculum.00:10:13 Joanna Lindenbaum

Period. End of story. Because when you’ve sat across from dozens or hundreds of people and tracked what really moved moves them, what lands, what doesn’t land, what lights them up, what shuts them down?00:10:32 Joanna Lindenbaum

You start then to design your curriculum with that precision in mind.00:10:40 Joanna Lindenbaum

And precision is what makes curriculum stronger. You write content and exercises that actually speak to the lived experience of your ideal clients, because you know their lived experience.00:11:00 Joanna Lindenbaum

Now of course, you’ve got your own lived experience. You are a version of your ideal client and that counts for a lot. I don’t want to knock that at all, but the sitting with other human beings and understanding them.00:11:21 Joanna Lindenbaum

It helps you take your curriculum to the next level.00:11:25 Joanna Lindenbaum

And if you’re willing to continue practicing your one-on-one skills over time, even after you become a seasoned facilitator, your group work is going to get deeper and more responsive. You’re going to become someone who can adapt.00:11:45 Joanna Lindenbaum

On the fly, meet the moment right there and create content that really, really resonates with your people.00:11:57 Joanna Lindenbaum

So that brings us to reason for.00:12:01 Joanna Lindenbaum

Why? I will never give up one-on-one work and I don’t think you should either. Your group programs are only as good as your one-on-one skills. So let’s flip this now because it’s not just about how one-on-one work informs your curriculum like we were just talking about.00:12:22 Joanna Lindenbaum

It’s also about how you show.00:12:25 Joanna Lindenbaum

Up inside of your group programs.00:12:29 Joanna Lindenbaum

The best group facilitators, the ones who create truly unforgettable group experiences.00:12:39 Joanna Lindenbaum

Almost always have excellent one-on-one chops. They know how to elicit shares that go somewhere.00:12:49 Joanna Lindenbaum

They know how to do quick, potent laser coaching in front of the group. That doesn’t just help the person in the hot seat. It unlocks something for every person watching and witnessing. If you’ve ever witnessed A facilitator work with one client while the whole group is on the edge of their seat.00:13:12 Joanna Lindenbaum

And you can feel that entire room is shifting.00:13:17 Joanna Lindenbaum

That’s the power of one-on-one mastery inside of a group setting. And that’s why I again am so passionate about teaching the one-on-one skills so that you can use it in your private work, but also so that you can pull it into.00:13:37 Joanna Lindenbaum

Your group work.00:13:38 Joanna Lindenbaum

It is a big piece of what has people coming back to you again and again.00:13:48 Joanna Lindenbaum

So finally, now let’s talk about the fifth reason why one-on-one work is essential, and why I’m never going to give.00:13:58 Joanna Lindenbaum

It up.00:14:00 Joanna Lindenbaum

And this has to do with business strategy. one-on-one work is a gold mine for thought leadership and marketing.00:14:12In market.00:14:14 Joanna Lindenbaum

So if you are working to grow your business, become a thought leader, develop intellectual property.00:14:24 Joanna Lindenbaum

Write content market more effectively. There is no better research lab or accurate data machine than your private client work.00:14:40 Joanna Lindenbaum

You get to hear when you’re working with clients privately. You get to hear your ideal clients, fears, desires, and their worldview, and you get to hear and learn about it all very up close. You learn your clients resistance patterns.00:15:02 Joanna Lindenbaum

You see which questions land you notice what metaphors were and which metaphors fall flat.00:15:11 Joanna Lindenbaum

You get to hear the specific types of language and phrases that clients use that you can insert straight into your marketing into your sales pages, your promotional emails, your social media, your preview workshops, your videos, etcetera and.00:15:33 Joanna Lindenbaum

In the one-on-one work or I should say through the one-on-one work you get to test new skills and frameworks in a more forgiving container. Private clients will give you the nuance that you need to make your ideas sharper, cleaner and more usable.00:15:53 Joanna Lindenbaum

Whether you’re teaching them in a group, writing a book.00:15:57 Joanna Lindenbaum

Or building your next big offering.00:16:02 Joanna Lindenbaum

So again, I am all in on leverage. I absolutely love groups, all of it, but I also deeply believe in the power of private work. And I think it is so.00:16:21 Joanna Lindenbaum

So worth my time and my energy. My one-on-one practice grounds me.00:16:31 Joanna Lindenbaum

It grows me and it fuels everything else that I do in my business, the groups, the marketing.00:16:40 Joanna Lindenbaum

All of it.00:16:42 Joanna Lindenbaum

And it keeps me connected to my people, to my craft, to the heart of why I started doing this work in the 1st place. Although the group work does do a lot of that as well, the one-on-one is extra support there.00:17:02 Joanna Lindenbaum

So if you’ve.00:17:04 Joanna Lindenbaum

Ever felt torn about whether to keep your private?00:17:08 Joanna Lindenbaum

If you’ve felt pressure from the industry to move away from it, I just want to say you don’t have to.00:17:18 Joanna Lindenbaum

Of course, there’s no one right model. It’s about what is right for you and if you love one-on-one work or if you want to fall in love with one-on-one, work or fall in love with it again.00:17:34 Joanna Lindenbaum

Keep it. Don’t let it go. You’re allowed to prioritize it, and you’re allowed to let it be a powerful cornerstone in your business for as long as you want, no matter how big your business gets.00:17:50 Joanna Lindenbaum

I would love to hear how this episode resonated for you, what it’s sparking for you. As always, please get in touch. I love hearing from.00:18:03 Joanna Lindenbaum

New.00:18:05 Joanna Lindenbaum

And if you know someone who would appreciate this episode or this podcast, please pass it along. It really is the best way for me to reach the people who need to hear all the things that we discuss here in the Coaching Revolution podcast. Thank you for spending this time with me today.00:18:25 Joanna Lindenbaum

And I’ll see you next time.

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