You've got the results, the testimonials, the big ideas. But when someone says "I need a coach for that," your name still doesn't come up first. That's not a marketing problem. That's a gravity problem.

In this first episode of a new series, Adam Roach and Jess Webber build out what they call the solar system model of coaching positioning, starting with the center of it: your Sun. Adam brings the relational frustration, the years he spent wanting the whole world to know him before he understood that being known isn't about being everywhere. Jess brings the architecture, walking through why "coach" itself can never be your gravitational pull and why so many coaches confuse niche, brand, and gravity when they're three completely different things.

They pull in real examples to make it concrete. Dave Ramsey's Sun is debt and financial peace. Brene Brown's Sun is shame. Adam's own Sun, the one he found through Rory Vaden's Brand Builders work, is uncertainty. Jess's is reducing complexity, the thread that runs from her background in education straight through to Big Ideas Made Simple. None of these are niches or job titles. They're the specific tension each of them solves for, over and over, for the right people.

What you'll learn:

• How to identify your coaching Sun, the gravitational pull that makes people say "I know a guy" for what you solve
• Why "coach" is never your gravitational pull, and what actually is
• The real difference between niche, brand, and gravity, and why coaches keep collapsing them into one thing
• Rory Vaden's one-word exercise from Wealthy and Well Known, and why it clicks for some coaches and not others
• Why you don't have to name your Sun today, or ever use it as your marketing message
• How taking one-on-one clients in Blueprint Phase 2 helps you find your Sun through pattern recognition instead of guesswork
• Why feeling like you have two or three "Suns" right now usually just means the inside work isn't finished yet

The big idea:

your Sun isn't your niche, your title, or your brand. It's the one tension you solve over and over, the thing people would refer you for even if they couldn't explain your job title. You're not responsible for naming it perfectly or turning it into a tagline. It's there to anchor every other decision in your business, from which clients you say yes to, to what you build next.

Notable quote:

"Gravity is not brand, gravity is not niche, gravity is the solution to the problem that you're naming." — Jess Webber

Resources mentioned:

• Wealthy and Well Known by Rory Vaden, Brand Builders Group (referenced for the one-word positioning exercise)
• REAL Coach Blueprint, Phase 2 (one-on-one coaching clients as the training ground for finding your Sun)
• ILC community: ilovecoachingco.com
• Instagram: @ilovecoachingco / @adamrroach / @thejesswebber
• YouTube: youtube.com/@ilovecoachingco

Join the community:

Ready to stop being the generalist and start being the guy or the gal people refer? The live Next 90 Workshop is built for exactly this work: https://ilovecoachingco.com/coachworkshop. Or head to ilovecoachingco.com to see what's next.

And I don't know if you saw my story,

you know, Dana's Dana, Dolly, Dolly,

Dana

Jess, we're at it again. We're gonna do a series this time.

We're gonna do a three-part series,

maybe a three-part, could be four,

could be five, maybe three though.

On I know a guy. I know a guy.

We're gonna go into a conversation around helping you establish

and understand how to build that phrase with your audience that says,

I know a guy, or I know a gal.

Let's get into this, Jess. It's

Right.

gonna be fun.

No, I think this is so good because we talked about it a little bit last episode.

And then when you and I were talking about where to take the podcast next,

it was one of those we need to spend more time here because it relates

to the last series of Coach's number one problems.

And we realized that so many people have this issue of being so excited

and such big language and all these things that they don't know how to be known.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love what we said a little bit earlier before we push record.

Is being known isn't about being everywhere.

Right? That that's

Mm.

that that's such a that's that that language is so simple and yet

for me is so hard to bite into.

Mm-hmm.

Well, let me let me pause that statement.

This was Adam probably five, six years ago.

I wanted the world to know me.

I wanted everyone to know me. I wanted to know

But that's that's that's inefficient.

It's ineffective. It doesn't work that way,

right? And we're gonna talk about what we call gravity.

We're gonna talk about, we're gonna actually just is gonna be right

up your your Star Wars ~

Ha ha ha.

lane here of we're gonna talk about like a solar system.

We're gonna talk about sun, we're gonna talk about planets,

we're gonna talk about moons, and we're gonna put that into a context for

you so you can understand how to become known as the guy or the gal.

Love this conversation. So we're gonna start with the biggest side of it,

right? So I love I appreciate the fact that you recognize my nerdness.

~ you know, we have

Mm-hmm.

watched Star Wars and Star Trek with my five year old in the last 48 hours.

I don't think that's nerdy. That's not nerdy.

That's that's just that's just sci fi.

That's not nerdy. That's cool.

Yeah.

but but well, and he loves space too.

So this is a fun conversation.

It's probably why my head goes immediately to this model.

Mm-hmm.

But for

the context of anybody listening,

we have a model inside Isle of Coaching,

which is the solar system model to understand positioning and your assets

and how much of information, time,

everything you give to people.

So that's kind of what this series is about,

is we want to start with the center of the solar system.

So if you're thinking, you know,

Milky Way galaxy, that's a sun,

right? It's the star, the central force that everything orbits.

And

That's what we have to kind of think of before we name anything else is what

is your center of gravity as a coach?

That's right. And this is hard,

right? I'm gonna lay it out there.

This is hard because again, let's go back to the the series title,

I know a guy or gal. That what,

right? That what? And where we can't say coach.

I know a guy, Adam, coach. Nope.

I know a gal, Jess. ~ coach.

That doesn't work. That's not son.

What are you specifically known for?

Right? What

Okay.

is this?

Gravitational pull that people will come to you to solve that problem.

So, Jess, we've we I think we've shared this before on past podcasts,

but I mean we can go through some names,

right? Gravitational Sun for Dave Ramsey is what?

That

Yep. Gravitational pull for Brene Brown is what?

Shame.

Yeah. ~ gravitational pull for hair club for men.

I'm kidding. ~ you know it's

Hey, listen, we we made it three minutes when and a bald joke came in here.

You know what? It's been a hot minute since I think we've had one on an episode.

Ha ha ha.

So it was about time. Yeah.

I I stumped you actually. And but that's the

simpleness of this, right? I know a guy,

I know a gal. They're set the gravitational sun is you don't have to come

up with one word, right? One word is challenging,

Mm-hmm.

it's really challenging, but what are you specifically known for that

is pulling people into your world?

Well, and with those examples and others,

it's not about like the specificity of it,

but it's it's the ecosystem, right?

It's the start of things. So

Right. Right.

if you're somebody who is struggling financially,

and I'm just not that we're positive or negative for Dave Ramsey,

it's just a an example, but if you're somebody who's struggling financially

and somebody says, you know, financial peace or debt.

Dave Ramsey is a top of mind human for that because he's created a world around him.

Now he has a conference on leadership.

He has other things. He's got coaching programs and homeownership things.

It's not all specific to debt only,

but the thing is, is he's known for a thing.

And so I think this is where we see people struggle is when we say son,

they immediately go to niche.

I'm a business coach, I'm a leadership coach,

I'm a life coach, or they go to personal brand and they're all

of their content pillars in their personal brand.

And neither of those things is what we're talking about.

And so I just want to make that really clear right here that gravity is not brand,

gravity is not niche, gravity is the solution,

right, to the problem that you're naming.

You're you are known for solving this problem.

And that's where the one word thing,

we got ~ a lot of exposure to that with Rory Vaden and brand builders

Right. Mm hmm. Mm-hmm.

~ and his book, Wealthy and Well Known.

But it's like, so he goes, what's the one problem you're solving and what's

the one solution in one word, right?

And that that works for

~ no.

some, doesn't work for others.

It can be a phrase, but

Sure.

centrally, you need something that you are truly known for outside of a niche

or a brand.

It's it's the tension that you solve over and over and over and over.

Yeah.

And my word that I came out of brand builders with,

which does serve, but I'm not known for this,

it was uncertainty. I actually like

Mm-hmm.

that word because if we look at the community members that we have right now,

they were uncertained and are uncertain on how to build their coaching business.

They were uncertained on how to leave.

their their survivor job to come into a space that they have passion

of serving other people around.

So that is truly, if I were to look at through the brand builder's lens,

that was my son, right? That was my gravitational pull that people would look

at Adam and say, he's known for helping people solve uncertainty in their life.

Right. ~

Mm-hmm.

and that that is something that you have to work through.

And it's it's it's very interesting.

I remember that process. I'm like,

gosh, what is my what do I solve?

What am I solving for people? What is the tension that I'm constantly solving

for people? Well, I help them make money,

I help them transition, I help them build business,

I help them do this, X, Y, and Z.

And it's really fascinating when you can when you can really bring that down

and narrow it to something so so specific.

Right.

Well, and and we have talked through this with many coaches,

other brand builders, members,

all sorts of different things.

And this is again not a bash on brand builders,

but there are people that really struggle with that concept of going to a word.

And and so even if you can just get to the point of like,

hey, I know that the core thread of what I solve for is X,

you're doing so well.

Yes.

And and any coach who is struggling positionally or linguistically

Is probably missing that clear,

simple thread language that we talked about in the last couple episodes,

especially. And so that's where you really need to start.

Like, if I I don't, I don't want to hire a coach just because they call themselves

a coach. I want to hire somebody who's d gone before me,

done the thing, they have the solution.

And and so what is the the crux of what your your solution is?

What are

Mm-hmm.

you gonna help me do?

Right. Yep. And and the neat part about that,

we can bring this now into coaching language.

We say in phase two of our blueprint,

we help coaches go find one-on-one coaching clients.

Well, why would I

Mm-hmm.

want to do that? I'm that's truly trading time for money.

That's right. We help you in phase two trade your time for money so

you can keep your lights on, or if you need to transition from your survivor

job into this, you can do that.

And what we get to do while we're in there,

those clients that are coming to you are usually right underneath your nose.

They're already in your world,

right? These are the relationship people that you have.

And so it's okay to go into that.

And be a little generic in your coaching,

right? You don't have to be specialist just yet.

But in that space of the one-on-ones and phase two,

you're you're developing your solar system.

You're really

Mm-hmm.

understanding this process. And you'll hear us use the word process over

and over and over, and it probably have in past podcasts.

This is how we get you to develop that process because the beginning part

of you building your coaching business,

you've got to keep your lights on.

So let's go get some one-on-one clients.

And then as you're with these one-on-one clients,

you'll start to say, I like that client because I can help them solve for this.

look, that client is kind of the same way.

I'm helping them solve for the same thing there.

~ that client? Yeah, forget it.

I hope they leave me and never get on my calendar again because I do not,

I do not want to play with that client anymore.

Right. And you're starting to feel this thread that just likes to call it.

Yeah. Well, and I love that we're giving them permission to not know

it right away or not name it right away.

Mm-hmm.

Because

a key thing here that we do see is somebody will get some sort

of hare-brained idea about what theirs is and immediately decide that that's

the label that they're gonna position themselves with everywhere.

They go change bios, they go print business cards,

make t-shirts, whatever it is.

And and the thing is,

is

It takes time to develop it, time to understand it,

time to figure out how it lands in the world.

But the thing is, you never need to carry that label or that,

you know, ~ problem as the the key torch.

And so when I tell this to people,

I'm like, think about it literally in the context of the sun.

If you handed somebody a sun, it would melt melt their face off.

It's too big of an idea or a concept.

When somebody is in pain and they're looking for a solution.

They're not looking for the whole shebang.

They just want the next right small thing that alleviates the pain that

or brings pleasure in a very small,

finite thing. And so you are not responsible for naming your

son to use as a marketing tool or tactic.

It

Mm-mm.

is there to help anchor you gravitationally.

Again, back to that solar system idea.

So that when you start making other decisions in your business and you go from

talking to any client, to talking to the right clients,

to having a wait list, to building a group,

you are being decisive because you say,

yes, this aligns, it fits in this solar system,

or no, that, that doesn't, and that can go be an asteroid somewhere else.

Yeah yeah, and we'll we'll we'll come to the asteroids,

the planets, and the moons on a later podcast.

Mm-hmm.

Correct. But I want people to

feel like they don't have to have the sun fully defined or named today,

and they don't have to use the sun as their marketing messaging.

Cause those are

Correct, yeah, that's good.

key factors here.

Well, and that's why it's important though to go get one on one clients.

That's why it's important to go play in this space.

Because I think we've used the word niche and we use the word son,

right? The the niche is who you're describing who you serve,

and your son is the tension that you are solving,

right? It's it's it's that is that is what we are solving.

Mine of uncertainty. You'll never see anywhere that says Adam Roach uncertainty.

Mm-hmm.

You won't see that, but I'm solving for that.

That's the tension when people come to me and they're having conversations around.

Gosh, I need help here and I'm not sure how to either transition from there

to here or build this here to here.

It's uncertainty. That is the tension they're feeling.

The niche

Mm-hmm.

is that's the who, right? That's that's the who that is coming into

the attraction of the ecosystem.

Right. Well, and and again, like if somebody was passing somebody else

in the hallway and said, Hey, do you know a guy that solves for this?

And they say, yeah, that's Adam,

it might not be, hey, do you know a guy who solves for uncertainty?

Like it's

No.

not it's not about the word, y'all.

It is about this this problematic,

you know, like Adam's saying, tension or concept that he solves for.

And that's the key thing here is you're not gonna walk around making sure that

everybody knows your son language.

But you do want to make sure that people understand your your pull and your tension.

So

Mm-hmm.

you don't have to be the guy for everybody.

Mm-hmm.

You need to be the

guy for the thing for the people in the niche that have the problem that

you can solve.

Yeah. And and when you can internalize that language right there,

if you need to hear it again, push the 10 seconds back.

And and hear that because when you get there,

y'all, it is it makes everything so much easier.

So much

It does.

easier. So much easier from marketing to conversations to just clarity

in your own space that, ~ that's that's the tension that I'm solving for.

Right? That's it.

Yeah.

It's

It's now I'm no longer truly a generalist coach.

I get to be specialized, right?

I get to be specialized in this space.

So if someone comes to me and says,

Hey, Adam, will you teach me how to ice skate?

Will you coach me on how to ice skate?

I'm like, ~ hm. No.

Right. That is not gonna happen.

No, that that is not gonna happen.

But when we have coaches that come to us that say,

hey, we've done amazing things in the past.

We've got amazing opportunities to serve other people.

We're just not sure, i.e. uncertain,

how to transition or how to do this.

Ding, ding, ding. Let's have a conversation.

Because that lands.

Yeah. And and again, you're gonna you're gonna sit here,

you might have one, you might change it,

and that's okay, which is another reason we're saying don't go full

in on marketing around it yet.

Because again, going through the process of getting those clients

and and figuring out who you're best positioned to serve is gonna help create

clarity there before you go build everything else.

So that's why this series is starting with the sun,

because

This is work that's done in conversation,

not in content creation.

That's right. Yep.

And when you can build relationships and start to understand who your ideal customer

is, who your avatar is, who you're best positioned to serve,

then it'll gain more clarity on the word,

the language, all of the other things,

which then allows the rest of the solar system to be built off of that.

So

The one-on-one coaching world is going to help you with the rest

of the solar system. And if you're somebody who's sitting here going,

well, I've got two or three sons right now.

Like I've got, I am a multifaceted,

multi-passionate, ADHD entrepreneur,

you know, you, you can't put me in a box,

like kind of thing. I'm gonna tell you that it's probably you haven't done enough

of the work in terms of conversations to find the thread that can actually marry

all of those ideas together.

Yeah, I know.

Because

that to me is the biggest power here is finding that central thing that anchors

everything else. And so for me,

I figured out a while back that mine was really about reducing complexity

or reducing friction. And so the world that I came from before,

which was education and then operations before in coaching and and everything

I do now, everything married under this idea of I can make.

Big idea simple. I can make things

Yeah, no.

easier. I can simplify or reduce complexity.

And that became kind of that ecosystem.

So I can still go coach somebody in operations just as easily as I can coach

a coach in organizing their intellectual property,

because there's still this core belief of Jess is really good

at making messy things simple,

big things easy. And that's

Yeah.

what we want you to get to because again,

it's not about.

being a business coach or or life coach or any of these other things,

it's what do you do so well that you are the guy that everybody knows?

And and I'm gonna continue to promote our blueprint.

And here's why. Phase one of the blueprint is very simple language

of going inside before you go outside.

And that

Mm-hmm.

inside work is so, and we're not talking mental,

we're talking work of clarity,

right? Work of clarity of your past containers,

your past life to find these threads,

to find these through lines.

To define this sun. And we watch coaches all the time.

I've experienced them. I I I watch and engage with them where they

will go get a one on one coaching client that is an ice skater.

And then they'll go get a one on one coaching client that is ~ a business owner.

Then they'll go get a coaching client that is a ~ I don't know,

candlestip maker.

Right. And it's like, whoa, where are you going with all of this?

You're just taking clients to take clients.

You haven't done the inside work before you go outside to understand that

you say no to the ice skater, you say no to the candlestick maker,

but yet you say yes to this business person that aligns with your gravity,

right? Your son.

Mm-hmm.

And it's just fascinating to do,

and I'm I'm getting a little excited about this because the blueprint

is the model that everyone needs.

To identify their son, because you can't go outside before you go inside

to create clarity on creating and establishing your son here.

Mm-hmm. Well, you gotta look at the mirror and you gotta figure

out where you've been, what you've done,

and then what lights you up inside and what you wanna go be known

for and have have ~ a reputation around.

And I think there's a lot of people who automatically assume reputation comes from

labels, not from problem solved.

And it's not.

Like nobody thinks of me from my past titles.

Everybody thinks of me from what I was known for,

what I I could do for them or did for them.

And so if you're somebody who's sitting here struggling with this,

think about like if if somebody said,

Hey, I have a problem, you know,

let's let's find a person and the people are like,

no, that's Adam. That's Jess. That's whatever,

that's you.

That's what you are shooting for.

It is not, ~ Adam is a past, you know,

real estate brokerage owner or Jess is a past educator or whatever.

People don't care about titles,

they care about solutions to problems.

So

That's right.

when you can land there and understand and internalize that,

it is so freeing.

Hmm,

so frame. So and and again, it creates clarity.

It totally creates clarity. Yeah.

Right. Right.

Okay. All

right. So so we're burning their ears here,

Jess, with this with this sun conversation.

Yeah.

So we gotta

end it. So nice job, Jess. Thank you for bringing clarity with that.

The start of the solar system conversation here,

because gang, this is an important one.

Identifying that sun, identifying that gravitational tension.

It is gonna pull people into your world so that you don't have to

be the generalist coach that attempts to know well,

want everyone to know them. You don't wanna go down that path.

It's not worth it. So, Jess, you wanna land the plane?

I mean, if this is something that you are struggling with or the

the language that we're using is resonating with you,

come find Adam and I. We are happy to have the conversation,

or you can go to ILovecoaching Co.com,

hop into one of our live events,

grab one of our, you know, ~ freebies to help you gain a little bit more clarity

on things. But the crux of the matter is,

is we are here to help. We've written the playbook on how to help you do this,

and we would love to share it with you.

So.

We would. Okay. See you guys next time.

See ya bye.

Bye.