Why Clients Choose You: Storytelling for Health Coaches

AI can create endless content for health coaches and our clients. But one thing that it can never ever create are your stories. Stories are how humans communicate, connect, and make sense of the world. And they're what make clients want to work with you.

So, in this episode, we'll uncover your stories.

First, let me take you back to the early 2000s. I was sitting in my doctor's office sobbing uncontrollably after hearing for I don't know the teenth time that my lab tests were all fine except I was not fine. I was not fine at all. I had dizzy spells like every day and I kept fainting on the subway and at church and at sporting events and the list went on and on. So, I'm in the doctor's office and the nurse looked over at me with a real condescending tone and she goes, "Honey, have you seen a therapist?"

Now, I don't know what she meant by that exactly, and I don't think it was nice. But since I had tried everything else I could think of, I booked a visit to the therapist next, which led me to understanding that I was dealing with anxiety, which led me to try yoga, which led me to change my diet, which led me to realize, hm boy, my digestion works a whole heck of a lot better when I eat better food. Go figure. I thought all my IBS symptoms were just normal because they were normal for me until they went away and then the fainting went away. So did my bad moods. And then I heard about health coaching.

Now that story is what we call a hero story or the hero's journey. And it tells the story of how you got from there to here. Well, that story didn't quite tell you how I got to here today, but at least it told you how I became a health coach and why. Except if you notice, it was more than that. I didn't start with I became a health coach because you that would have been expected. I became a health coach because I believe in the power of healthy living. Boring. Expected. Totally forgettable.

So, here's a tip. Whenever you're sharing a story, try to start in the middle of the action. Like start right at that middle point and bring it to the front. It holds the listener's attention much much better. Here, listen to the difference.

I became a health coach because I believe versus I was sitting in the doctor's office sobbing uncontrollably. Now, which one makes you want to keep listening? That's the difference.

Now, in a few minutes, I'm going to help you excavate your own stories. But here's the deal. For clients to want to work with you, they do not care that you believe in the power of healthy living or real food or that you're passionate about functional medicine. Oh, you love functional medicine so much. They don't care. Nobody does. Throw that out the window and tell a story instead.

Another type of story that you want to have in your repertoire are of course client stories. We'll broaden that actually. Success stories in general. Stories of change. Stories that make the listener believe that there is hope on the other side, that there is another side to whatever they're dealing with. And it doesn't even matter if these are necessarily your client stories because I can already hear half of you going, "But Michelle, I haven't had any clients yet." It's okay. You can tell stories of anyone going from point A to point B because that's really compelling. Now, it could be your personal story or your sisters or your mom's or your brothers or something that you read online. It could come from a paying client that you're working with right now or a practice client or someone that you worked with even informally in the past.

Here's one. My client Naen had been accused of lying. Lying to nutritionists about what she ate. Lying to personal trainers about how much she was exercising. H it makes me want to cry. Not only had diets failed to help her lose weight, but the diet industry had failed her. So, it was with the heaviest of hearts that she came to me to try yet again. Can you imagine? Now, working together, we realized that the goal was never really the number on the scale. It didn't matter. But what mattered was her ability to participate in life. In fact, she had this dream of climbing the Mount Everest base camp, but it was going to require certain health markers to make that trip. Within weeks of naming that goal, weeks, she and her husband booked the trip and a few months later, they were on a plane. That's one of my very, very favorite client success stories from my own private practice. I love sharing that one.

Now, notice again how I kind of started in the middle with a compelling little tidbit of Naen being accused of lying. I didn't start with my client Naen came to me to lose weight, blah blah blah. I started with that interesting detail, like why would she be accused of lying? Is she some kind of criminal or something? Your brain just automatically wants to listen and wants to find out to close the loop. Now, also notice that although I'm sharing Nadian success in that story, I'm also weaving in what I want the listener to know about me. That as a health coach, I looked beyond the scale and that I would never ever accuse somebody of lying. So yes, you can tell stories about how somebody lost weight, how much weight they lost, or how much energy they gained, or how they put their autoimmune disease into remission naturally. That's great, but way better if you can tell their human story alongside that and how that success in their health impacted their life. like what did it allow them to do or be or become? That's the good stuff.

And finally, I want to talk about a third type of story. And I know this one might seem kind of insignificant at first. You're going to be like, Michelle, why are we talking about this? But it's actually my favorite. This is my favorite kind of story to tell because these are everyday stories. They're happening to you all the time. They're happening to you right now. little stories, even just anecdotes. I'm talking about the most mundane stuff. My coffee was strong this morning. That kind of story. Or maybe a slightly more interesting um you'll never guess what I put in the in the washing machine. You'll never guess what I put in the washing machine. Like, what kind of story is that? But that's a story.

And again, these are often very short anecdotes. They're not long winded tales, but they're super powerful because they're going to allow you in some cases to form a metaphor. Like everybody knows what strong coffee is like, but if you're trying to motivate someone, activate someone, if you're talking to someone who hasn't exercised in their life and generally feels blah and exhausted, maybe talk about how they can be strong like your cup of coffee. They'll get that. They know that feeling.

The other cool thing is that when you share really specific details from your life, not that you have to tell every personal detail about your life, but just a few specific details, then your audience starts to get to know you better. Like, if you've been listening to this podcast long enough, I bet you know a whole lot about me. Even though most of these episodes are not the about Michelle episode, you know, you just start to get to know a person when they share little tidbits from their everyday life. Like, you'll never guess what I put in the washing machine. And it's only because my 15-year-old son's socks smelled so bad, I almost passed out. But I added essential oils to the wash. Brilliant, right? And boom. It was like magic. I felt like a genius. No fragrance detergents, no toxic fabric softener needed. Now, when my listener hears that, they know I'm a mom. They know I have a 15-year-old son who stinks up the house and I'm into toxin-free living.

Now, the problem, and you might be thinking this in your mind right now, the problem is that when I talk to health coaches, they almost invariably say, "Michelle, I don't have any stories or I just can't think of any." You know what I mean? And it's hard if you're not in the habit of it. So, let's do a little exercise right now just to help extract some of those stories from your brain. This is not like a oneanddone thing. This is the kind of extraction process, if you will, that you could do every day. You can do every time you sit down to post on social media or write an email or even just talk to your clients. I know your stories are in there. Let's use them.

So, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Hey, maybe you can hit pause and do some journaling alongside this episode or come back to this episode later or you know what, just see what pops into your head as we go along. So, first think about why you became a health coach, why you got into healthy living in the first place. What was going on in your life when you were like, you know what, I am going to enroll in health coaching school. What was going on in your life? What was going on in your health? what happened that you would never want to happen again. That's a good way of getting at the juicy parts. You could even think about what was going on in your career, what was going on in your relationships, anything that will bring some color and flavor to why you decided to become a health coach.

And then I want you to think about changes that people in your life, not just clients, but people in your life have made that you found really exciting or really inspirational and they might have changed something about their health, especially if we are talking about a client. So maybe it was their exercise or their eating habits or their sleep patterns. Maybe they changed something about their life or maybe the change in their health changed their life. That's that's the part you really want to talk about. I've had clients change careers. I've had clients cut their hair, you know, like all sorts of things that they changed. So, it doesn't always have to be about like the number on the scale or this symptom or this disease, right? Like what changed in their lives. Those make for really interesting stories. And any examples of change can be interesting and can help somebody unearth their own capacity for change. So maybe it's not even somebody that you know, just a story you read about. I saw this one online recently. I saw a 95year-old woman like deadlift I don't know like hundreds of pounds. Who does that? 95 years old doing bodybuilding and she started in her 70s. Had never lifted a weight until she was in her 70s. Now that's a great story.

And finally, to uncover stories from your everyday seemingly boring and mundane life, you don't have to really dig in your brain. I mean, you can, but I find it's much easier to just look around you because if you're there, I mean, you can literally just point at something. Take a finger like this and point at anything in the room where you are right now. If you're in the car, it doesn't matter. If it's in your world, it's very likely that you're going to be able to tell some kind of story about it. Like, I'm standing here in my studio and I pointed over there, right? I just pointed at some abstract paintings that I did in my 20s. I keep them on the wall over here to remind me who I am, what I'm all about, what makes me me. And I could tell you a story now that I'm thinking about it about taking painting classes where I made these at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and how my boyfriend would come pick me up after class on his motorcycle and somehow I would hold these paintings on the back of the motorcycle and we would ride home that way. See, that's something you probably didn't know about me before. Also, I took those classes for free because I used to work in advertising and the agency paid for us to stay fresh and stay creative. And that advertising background is exactly why I'm so good at helping health coaches find their voice, find their message, and share it with the world. See how storytelling it started with the paintings, but see how I worked it into telling you more about me? That's how it works. That makes what you're talking about way more interesting. Suddenly, there's a motorcycle and abstract paint. Who knew?

Now, listen. I have a free resource for you. It's called 10 easy offers you can earn with right away. And I made this specifically for health coaches, of course. But here's the trick. I don't want you to just make generic offers. I mean, of course, what I'm providing in this guide is meant for everybody. Make it your own. Tell your stories. Relate those stories to how one of these easy offers, and there's 10 to choose from, can help someone, can create change. Don't be, Here's the hot tip for 2026. Don't be a generic health coach that AI can mimic in a heartbeat. Go grab that guide. It's at healthcoachpower.com/ey. And then, you know what? I want you to message me and tell me how you're going to use it and what stories you're going to tell. I love hearing your stories. I'm at health coach power community on Instagram. I'll see you there and I will see you here next time.