If you’re a health or life coach and you’ve scrolled past an ad promising you can make six figures, multiple six figures, even millions of dollars from your coaching business, this one’s for you.

I saw an ad on Instagram recently that properly wound me up. Six slides, one coach, some pretty wild claims about growing a business from $18,000 a month to $126,000 a month in three months flat. I screenshotted the whole thing because I knew I wanted to break it down for you, slide by slide, and have an honest conversation about what’s realistic in the coaching industry and what’s just really clever marketing.

Before I get into it though, I want to own something. For a long time I worried that not actively chasing multiple six figures in my own business meant I had a money mindset problem. Was I upper limiting myself? Was I scared to try in case I failed? I’ve sat with that question properly, and I don’t think it’s a mindset issue at all. I want more income in my business, genuinely, and that’s something I’m actively working towards right now. But multiple six figures specifically has never appealed to me, for a lot of reasons, and I’ve had to get really honest with myself about why.

So if this is your dream, chase it. I’m not here to tell you it’s impossible. What I am here to do is question the way some of these claims get presented in our industry, because a lot of it doesn’t add up.

Listen to this episode on The Wholehearted Business Show Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify

Slide 1: “I grew my business from $18k to $126k a month in three months”

Big claim, very short timeframe. The first question I’d ask is whether this is even coaching, or whether courses and other income streams are doing the heavy lifting. This person also started from a pretty high baseline already. If she’s pouring thousands into paid ads (which, given I found this as an ad, seems likely), that would explain a lot more than a “simple five-step process” ever could.

Slide 2: “Sell high-priced coaching. Anyone can sell four to eight clients a month at $3,000 each.”

This is where I really push back. Whether you can sell at that price and that frequency depends entirely on your niche. After fifteen years in this industry, I can tell you there’s no niche-agnostic formula that guarantees this. It comes down to your business model (I’ve got a free training that walks through exactly this) and whether the problem you solve is significant enough that people will drop that kind of money on it. And realistically, four to eight new one-to-one clients every single month isn’t sustainable for most people anyway.

Slide 3: “Focus on Instagram only. I make $100,000 a month posting only on Instagram.”

Notice the shift here. Slide one implied $3,000 coaching packages. Now suddenly it’s $100k a month from Instagram alone. Something doesn’t line up. Posting at the frequency you’d need to make one platform your entire income engine would leave almost no time for actual client work, which tells me this business isn’t built on coaching clients at all. And putting all your eggs in one platform’s basket is risky. If Instagram pulled her account tomorrow, that income disappears overnight.

Slide 4: “Focus on one offer. Confused leads never buy.”

Not terrible advice in isolation, but if you’re multi-passionate (a lot of you reading this are), “just pick one thing” might not be the right fit. And in 2026, what tends to work better for a lot of coaches is a proper funnel, something like a lower-priced entry point that leads into bigger offers, rather than one single rigid offer. I cover this in the same free business model training.

Slide 5: “Focus on content that converts, not viral trends.”

Honestly? This is the one slide I don’t have an issue with. Chasing views over genuinely speaking to your audience’s actual thoughts and struggles is a trap a lot of coaches fall into. Fair point, well made.

Slide 6: “Get a mentor. I owe it all to mine.”

I’m a business mentor, so I’m hardly going to argue against the value of mentorship. But the framing (implying you’ll replicate a $1 million income by copying someone else’s system) is where it falls apart. I don’t sell on income numbers, because I can’t guarantee what any individual business will earn. There are too many variables: your niche, your connections, your ad budget, your capacity. What I can guarantee is my time, my attention, fifteen years of experience, and that I’m genuinely on your team working toward your goals. That’s a very different promise to “make what I made.”

Why this matters

The ad also claimed clients go from just starting out to $98k a month “by copying our systems into their biz.” You cannot copy a system like-for-like into someone else’s business and expect the same result. Systems need customising to the person running them, which is exactly why in Wholehearted Business®, my six-part framework comes with actual me, looking at your specific business and telling you honestly what will and won’t work for you.

If it really was as simple as five steps, everyone selling those five steps would be making that money. They’re not. So it’s worth building some discernment around the claims you see, especially ones with a very specific, very large number attached.

I’ve worked with clients who invested serious money with coaches promising results that were never realistic for their niche, their background, or their circumstances. That’s not a mindset problem on the client’s part. That’s a marketing problem on the coach’s part.

What I’d love for you to take away from this: question the big numbers, especially when they’re presented as achievable for absolutely anyone. If you want a clearer sense of what your own business could realistically generate, based on your actual niche and offers, that’s exactly what my free business model training walks you through.

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