Craft of Coaching Podcast

Kate Swoboda

Learn how to become a life coach with a strong skillset in the craft of coaching  through the Craft of Coaching podcast. The Craft of Coaching is hosted by Kate Swoboda, Director of Training for the ICF-accredited life coach training program, the Credentialed Life Coach Collective. Learn more about our coach training program at https://TeamCLCC.com

  1. Jun 15

    Ep 119 - Your Client Lost Their Job. Now What? How to Coach Your Clients Through Career Transitions When the Market Is Brutal

    Coaching clients through career transitions is always complex work — but right now, when the job market is genuinely difficult and economic uncertainty is running high, it requires a particular set of skills that most coach training doesn't fully address. When a client has done everything right and the market still isn't responding, standard coaching moves can land as tone-deaf. And when a client's identity is wrapped up in work they've lost or are losing, the coaching goes deeper than strategy fast. In this episode, we're breaking down what it actually looks like to coach career transition clients in a hard market — staying firmly in the coaching lane without crossing into career counseling, holding space for grief and identity disruption without getting pulled into rescue, and asking the questions that actually help when "just keep applying" isn't landing. We're covering the difference between a career strategy problem and an identity crisis wearing career clothes, why the most important coaching in a job transition often has nothing to do with the resume, and the specific moves that help clients stay connected to their own agency when the external environment feels completely indifferent to what they have to offer. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    23 min
  2. Jun 1

    Ep 117- How to Keep Believing in Your Coaching Business In an Uncertain Economy

    Growing a coaching business in a difficult economy tests something most business advice doesn't prepare you for — not your strategy, but your belief. When inquiries slow down, the silence has a way of becoming evidence. Evidence that you're not good enough, that you waited too long, that the market has moved on. None of that is necessarily true. But it feels true, and that feeling drives decisions. In this episode, we're breaking down what's actually happening when a coaching business goes quiet — the difference between a market condition and a personal failing, how to audit what's working without spiraling into an overhaul, and what to do in a slow season that actually builds long-term equity instead of just filling time. We're also looking at how this translates directly to your coaching work, because clients who are navigating "I'm doing everything right and nothing is happening" need exactly the skills we're talking about here. This episode is equal parts honest business coaching and inner work. Because in a hard market, those two things are inseparable. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    33 min
  3. May 26

    Ep 116: You're Not Too Expensive: How to Stop Discounting Your Coaching Rates In an Uncertain Economy

    Coaching business pricing during economic uncertainty is where a lot of coaches quietly come undone. Not publicly — there's no announcement, no decision point. It happens in small moments. A potential client mentions money is tight and you immediately offer a discount. Someone ghosts after hearing your rate and you spend three days wondering if you should lower it. You start pre-emptively apologizing for your prices before anyone has even asked. In this episode, we're breaking down what's actually happening in those moments — because it's rarely about the economics and almost always about the story underneath them. We're covering how to tell the difference between appropriate flexibility and people-pleasing yourself out of a sustainable business, what the research tells us about how clients actually make purchasing decisions during economic downturns, and the specific internal work that lets you hold your rates with confidence rather than apology. This isn't about being rigid or tone-deaf to genuine financial hardship. It's about getting honest about when you're responding to a client's reality and when you're responding to your own fear. Those are two completely different situations — and they require two completely different responses. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    35 min
  4. May 18

    Ep 115: Creating Coaching Packages That Actually Work—for You and Your Clients

    Most coaches create their offers by copying what they see others doing—but that leads to packages that don’t actually work. In this Craft of Coaching episode, we dive into how to structure coaching packages that support real transformation for your clients and sustainable income and energy for you. You’ll learn how to align your offers with the actual arc of change, why underpriced or overpromised packages undermine both the coach and the client, and how to map your packages around integration, boundaries, and outcomes—not just sessions and price.  We walk through the top mistakes coaches make when designing packages and give you a clear, actionable framework for creating offers that deliver. If you’re ready to stop winging it and start building packages that feel good to deliver—and that clients are excited to commit to—this episode is for you. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    37 min
  5. May 11

    Ep 114 - How to Truly Start Embracing Imperfection (In Your Coaching, With Your Clients, and in Your Life)

    This episode gets into why naming imperfection — genuinely, not as false modesty — is foundational to coaching well, leading well, and building community that's actually real. We talk about assumed role power, the guru model that's quietly everywhere in the coaching industry, and what it costs coaches who are still performing perfection when a client brings them something messy. We also get into the flip side: owning imperfection means owning the cleanup. The repair. The willingness to stay in relationship rather than manage the optics. Adrienne maree brown and Nike Aurea both speak to this in community contexts, and it's just as true in a coaching relationship. How to embrace imperfection isn't a one-time reframe. It's a practice — built over time, in relationship, through the experience of being imperfect with other people and finding that the connection holds anyway. That's the work. And it turns out, it's also what makes a great coach. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    30 min
  6. Apr 27

    Ep 112: Launching a Group Coaching Program? Here's How to Build Community

    If you're a coach considering a group program,  you need to know how to build a community. Building real community isn't about luck or personality — it's about understanding what actually creates belonging, and developing the skills to sustain it. Most of us were never taught how to build community in any deliberate way, and the gap that leaves is real: connection that feels hollow, groups that don't stick, and a low-grade hunger for something more solid. We break down the difference between cultivation — showing up consistently, being willing to go first, creating the conditions for belonging — and the specific skills that make community work: trust signaling, behavioral integrity, active listening, somatic awareness, and recognizing the inner critic narratives that quietly keep people isolated. And for coaches, this isn't just personally relevant. It's professionally essential. The coaches who know how to build community from the inside out bring something qualitatively different to their clients — because you can't hold space for what you haven't lived. If you've been thinking about how to build community that actually feels like something — this episode is a place to start. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    34 min
  7. Apr 13

    Ep 111: When can you call yourself a coach?

    We’ve absorbed a quiet rule in the coaching industry: you’re not legitimate until your calendar is packed. If you’re not fully booked, you’re still “trying.” Still “building.” Still “not quite there.” Let’s challenge that. A fully booked client roster is a business metric — not a measure of your identity. When we tie our legitimacy to calendar saturation, we hand our confidence to algorithms, economic cycles, and comparison. And that’s a fragile place to build from. In this episode, we unpack what actually makes someone a coach: commitment to craft, ethical standards, reflective practice, and skill development. We separate coaching skill from marketing outcomes, and we explore why claiming your professional identity early accelerates growth instead of inflating ego. If you’ve been wondering when you can call yourself a coach, or feeling pressure to prove yourself through volume, this conversation will reset your internal barometer. Coaching + Courage + Community = CLCC.  We're a life-changing program, for you to become a life-changing coach. Our Level 1 ICF-Accredited program has worked with graduates from around the world. The first life you change? It'll be your own. We're the Credentialed Life Coach Collective, or CLCC, and we're here to give you a powerful coaching skill-set mixed with profound personal and professional growth. Head to https://TeamCLCC.com to get our catalogue and the free "Become a Coach" video series to learn more about becoming a life coach, choosing a coaching niche, how coaches make money, and more. Social: LinkedIn

    21 min
5
out of 5
49 Ratings

About

Learn how to become a life coach with a strong skillset in the craft of coaching  through the Craft of Coaching podcast. The Craft of Coaching is hosted by Kate Swoboda, Director of Training for the ICF-accredited life coach training program, the Credentialed Life Coach Collective. Learn more about our coach training program at https://TeamCLCC.com

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