ICF Tennessee

Only about 3% of your audience is ready to hire you at any given moment.

The other 97% are in an earlier stage, watching, reading, forming an impression over time.

This is where the ICF Core Competency of Trust and Safety becomes relevant beyond the session room.

Coaches are trained to create conditions where clients feel safe enough to do real work, where judgment is suspended, the relationship is protected, and the pace is theirs to set. That same orientation applies to how a coach shows up publicly.

Content that educates without pressure, perspectives shared consistently over time, a voice that feels the same whether or not something is being sold, these build the kind of trust that eventually moves someone from observer to client.

The coaches with the most sustainable practices tend to have audiences who took a long time to decide. That’s not a failure of marketing. It’s evidence that the trust was real.

How are you building trust with 97% who aren’t ready yet?

Today, we honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

On this Memorial Day, ICF Tennessee pauses in gratitude and remembrance — for those who gave their lives, for the families who carry that loss, and for the enduring courage that defines their legacy.

We are humbled by their service.

You’re showing up on social media. Your website is live. You send emails when you can. So why doesn’t it feel like your marketing is actually working?
If you’re like most small business owners, you’re marketing in scattered pieces: a post here, an update there, an email whenever you find the time. Without a clear plan connecting these efforts, you end up with a disjointed experience that confuses potential customers and burns through your energy.

This 75-minute workshop will show you how to transform your disconnected tactics into a cohesive system that naturally guides people from first discovering you to becoming paying customers.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Understand the role each channel plays

Identify the specific purpose of their website, social media, and email marketing, and how each supports the customer journey from first touch to conversion.

Create a cohesive marketing flow

Learn how to connect content across platforms so social media drives traffic, the website captures leads, and email nurtures relationships consistently.
Develop a simple, repeatable strategy
Leave with a practical framework they can use to plan campaigns, content, and calls-to-action without feeling overwhelmed or scattered.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Paula Henry is the visionary founder of Chesapeake Bay Solutions LLC, where she dedicates her expertise to assisting small business owners in optimizing their operations. Understanding the intricate balance between professional success and family commitments, Paula provides personalized strategies that address each client’s unique challenges. Her approach is rooted in practicality and a deep commitment to community, ensuring that businesses not only thrive but also contribute positively to their local environments. Beyond her professional endeavors, Paula is an active community member, engaging in volunteer work and supporting local initiatives. Her passion for empowering others is evident in her hands-on approach, guiding entrepreneurs toward achieving their goals while maintaining the values that matter most.

There are coaches who talk about community. And then there are coaches who build it.

Karen Nash, MSOD, PCC, NLPC is the latter. Past president of ICF Tennessee. Mentor coach. Presence-based practitioner with a Master’s in organizational development.

She’s spent her career proving that what happens BETWEEN people matters as much as what happens INSIDE them.

She said this at our ICF Tennessee ICW event this week, and the room felt it:

“When we are connected to each other, we can help each other think better and know more than we do when we’re alone.”

Thank you, Karen, for putting words to the heart of what coaching is about.

Happy International Coaching Week.

International Coaching Federation

Here’s something I think we don’t say enough.
Coaching has always been radical.

Heather C. Curtis said it at our ICF Tennessee ICW event this week:
“How radical is it, for any profession, to take a stance not as the expert? The client identifies what they want to work on. The client is valued for their individuality. We expect that the client has their own answers.”

We start from a presumption that our clients are healthy, resourceful, and whole.
That is not what most helping professions do.
Heather was talking about neurodiversity-affirming coaching specifically. The ADHD adults. The late-diagnosed women who were good students, never a behavior problem, just had a lot of strategies for getting by. Until those strategies stopped working.
But the principle applies everywhere.
Go back and read the ICF core competencies. They’re more aligned with that radical presumption than most of us realize.
We’ve been doing this. We just need to keep doing it on purpose.

International Coaching Federation