Jennifer came to me coaching people on functional health and ADHD. She knew she was good — she’d been getting results for clients using DNA genetic analysis to create personalized plans. Real, measurable, life-changing results. But when I asked her to describe what she does and who she does it for, the answer was a […]
How to Find Your Distinctive Edge as a Coach in 5 Steps
Jennifer came to me coaching people on functional health and ADHD. She knew she was good — she’d been getting results for clients using DNA genetic analysis to create personalized plans. Real, measurable, life-changing results.
But when I asked her to describe what she does and who she does it for, the answer was a full paragraph of qualifications and methodologies that made my eyes glaze over a little. And I say that with love, because she’s brilliant.
Her problem wasn’t skill.
Her problem was that every time a potential client landed on her page, they couldn’t tell — in four seconds — why Jennifer was different from the dozens of other ADHD coaches in their feed. She was invisible in plain sight. Posting, showing up, doing all the things. Signing almost nobody.
Eight weeks later, she’d gone viral multiple times, grown her following by 4,500, and was getting email subscribers from every single piece of content she put out. Not because she changed what she does.
Because she finally found her distinctive edge — and learned how to talk about it.
That’s what I want to walk you through today. The same 5-step process I’ve used with 75+ clients inside The Distinctive Edge to help them go from “I do what a lot of people do” to “nobody else is saying it like this.” Because I promise you: your edge already exists. You just haven’t excavated it yet.
Step 1: Mine Your Origin Story for the Thread That Connects Everything
Here’s what I’ve learned after years of reviewing origin stories: most coaches skip theirs because they think it’s boring.
“I don’t have a dramatic transformation.”
“My story isn’t interesting enough.”
“People don’t care about my backstory.”
Wrong on all counts.
Your origin story isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the specific thread that connects who you were, what happened to you, and why you now do this work — in a way that makes a stranger trust you in under sixty seconds.
With Jennifer, we dug into why she was so passionate about ADHD and DNA-based approaches. Turns out, her husband’s ADHD diagnosis had reshaped her entire family dynamic. She’d watched her own household transform through the work she now does for clients. That wasn’t a footnote — that was the whole story. It’s why we chose “families with ADHD” as her primary audience, referencing moms, dads, and kids in her content instead of speaking broadly about “people who struggle with focus.”
That one shift — grounding her content in a personal, lived, family-level experience — changed how her audience related to her overnight. She wasn’t just another ADHD coach posting tips. She was the coach who got it because she’d lived it at her own kitchen table.
When I work with clients on origin stories, I’m looking for the moment that made the work personal. Not impressive — personal. The moment you realized you were unusually good at this thing, or the struggle that made you care about solving this specific problem more than anyone else in your feed. That’s your thread. Pull on it.
Step 2: Build a Framework That Does the Explaining for You
This is where most coaches get stuck in what I call “the expertise trap” — they know so much about what they do that they can’t simplify it into a process someone else can follow. They explain and explain and explain, and the prospective client walks away more confused than when they started.
A framework fixes this. Not because it dumbs down your work, but because it gives your buyer a map. They can look at your 3–5 phases and instantly see: here’s where I am, here’s where I’m going, here’s how she gets me there.
Jennifer already had a process — the DNA Method for ADHD. She was using it with every client. But she’d never named it, structured it, or made it something she could reference in content. We built her 3-Step DNA Method into a framework that families could see themselves moving through together. Suddenly, instead of explaining the science of genetic analysis on every sales call, she had a visual, simple pathway that did the selling for her. Her audience could look at the framework and go, “Oh — I’m in step one. I need step two.”
This is also what happened with another client, Brittany Herzberg, who’s an SEO expert. She could write copy, create case studies, do a hundred things. But the work that was actually bringing clients in was SEO. So we cut the noise. Stopped talking about copywriting. Built her entire framework — Understand, Implement, Maintain — around the one thing she wanted to be known for. Her three scattered offers became a clear pathway, and within weeks she’d hit her first $10K+ cash month.
The framework doesn’t just organize your delivery. It organizes your entire business — your content, your offers, your sales conversations. Everything gets clearer once you have it.
Step 3: Find Your One Message and Say It Until You’re Tired of Hearing It
This is the step that separates coaches who are posting from coaches who are selling. And it’s the one most people resist the hardest, because it feels too simple.
Inside TDE, I call this your Domino Belief — the one core message your audience needs to adopt before they’ll ever buy from you. It’s the belief that, once it tips, knocks down every other objection. And it should be almost embarrassingly simple.
Jennifer’s Domino Belief: her audience needs to believe that they need a DNA analysis to find out which of the 30 strains of ADHD they have — because once they know their unique strain, they can turn their ADHD into a superpower instead of managing it with medication alone. And the reason other ADHD solutions weren’t working? They weren’t accounting for the unique strain.
Read that again. It’s not complicated. It’s not jargon-heavy. It’s one clear claim that reframes the entire problem. And once someone believes it, the only logical next step is to work with Jennifer — because she’s the one with the DNA analysis.
Your Domino Belief should do the same thing. It should make working with you feel inevitable, not optional.
Once Jennifer had hers locked, she stopped wondering what to post. Every piece of content circled back to this one message, said a hundred different ways.
Some days it was educational.
Some days it was a family story.
Some days it was a client win.
But the core message — the thread running through all of it — never changed. That consistency is what made her content start compounding instead of just accumulating.
Your next step: The $10K Month Strategy Guide
This free guide breaks down the full process behind consistent $10K+ months — including how to connect your story, framework, and content into a system that actually sells. It’s the same strategy Brittany used to go from scattered offers to a $15K cash month. Grab it and see where your gaps are.
Step 4: Infuse Your Edge Into Everything You Share (Yes, Everything)
Here’s where things got fun for Jennifer. And where most coaches drop the ball.
They do the work to find their story, build their framework, clarify their message — and then go right back to posting the same educational tips anyone in their industry could post. Generic “5 ways to manage ADHD” content.
Helpful? Sure.
Distinctive? Not even close.
What we did instead: every piece of content she created referenced at least one piece of her edge. Her origin story showed up in her reels. Her framework showed up in her carousels. Her personality — the real, unfiltered, slightly nerdy scientist side of her — showed up in her stories. Even her “life update” posts connected back to why she does this work.
This is what I mean when I say your edge should be baked into your content, not sprinkled on top.
When someone lands on your page and scrolls for 5 seconds, they should be able to identify 3 things:
- your story (why you)
- your expertise (what you do)
- your framework (how you do it)
If they can’t see all 3 in a quick scroll, your content is working too hard to educate and not hard enough to differentiate.
Jennifer embraced testing — which is crucial when you’re putting out a refined or new message. She tried different hooks, different formats, different angles on the same core message. And after about a month of consistent testing, it started to pop. She went viral multiple times over. She grew her following by 4,500. She started getting email subscribers from every single piece of content. Not because of one magic post, but because the cumulative effect of showing up with a clear, distinctive point of view finally hit critical mass.
Two $10K cash months. Back to back. Before she’d even touched a formal launch!
The coaches I work with who sign clients consistently aren’t necessarily better at their craft than the ones who don’t. They’re just better at making their edge visible in every single thing they share.
Step 5: Sell From Your Edge — Not From Pressure
Once your audience knows your story, understands your process, and has adopted your core belief, selling becomes the most natural thing in the world. You’re not convincing anyone. You’re just inviting them to take the next step in a journey they already see themselves on.
For Brittany, that looked like a mini-launch for her beginner program using a case study workshop — 3 clients who’d crushed it with SEO. The workshop told her story, broke down her process, and showcased real results. She enrolled 12 students against a goal of 10. And during that same launch, she also signed done-for-you SEO projects and one-off clients from the exact same content. That month she had her first $10K+ cash month.
Six weeks later, when SEO Foundations wrapped, she didn’t start from scratch. She used a private invite strategy to offer graduates the next step — her full SEO & Grow program. Six said yes without a single public post about it. She ran the same workshop again for a wider audience, filled the remaining spots, and closed a $19K launch with a $15K cash month.
That’s what selling from your edge looks like. You’re not reinventing your marketing every month. You’re deepening the same message, serving the same pathway, and letting your framework do the heavy lifting.
Jennifer hasn’t even touched formal launching yet because sales conversations are happening so naturally from her content and email list building. That’s the part that makes me want to scream from the rooftops — when you get the first four steps right, selling often takes care of itself.
Frequently Asked Questions About Finding Your Distinctive Edge
What if I think my story is boring or not dramatic enough?
Every single client I’ve worked with has said this. Every one. Your story doesn’t need to be dramatic — it needs to be specific. The moment your husband got diagnosed. The afternoon you realized your corporate skills translated to something bigger. The first client who said “how did you know exactly what I needed?” Specificity is what creates connection, not drama.
How long does it take to find your edge and start seeing results?
The positioning work — origin story, framework, core message — takes most of my clients about four to six weeks to nail. Content results start compounding around the one-month mark of consistently posting from your new edge. Jennifer started seeing viral content and email growth within her second month. Brittany hit $10K+ within a few months of implementing.
Can this work if I’m in a super crowded niche?
That’s actually when it matters most. The more coaches are in your space, the more your edge becomes the deciding factor. Jennifer is in the ADHD space — which is enormous right now. But nobody else is talking about DNA analysis and the 30 strains of ADHD the way she is. That specificity is what cuts through.
Do I need to niche down further to find my edge?
Probably not. Most coaches who come to me thinking they have a niche problem actually have a messaging problem. You don’t need a smaller niche — you need a clearer way to talk about what you already do that makes the right person stop scrolling.
Ready to Find Your Distinctive Edge?
If you read Jennifer’s story and Brittany’s story and thought “I want that” — good! That reaction means you know your edge exists and you’re ready to stop waiting for it to magically become obvious.
The Distinctive Edge is my 3-month group coaching program where we do exactly what I walked you through in this post — but for your specific business, your specific story, your specific niche.
Three phases:
- Define Your Edge
- Message Your Edge
- Sell Your Edge
You come out the other side with an origin story that converts, a named framework, a one-message content strategy, and a sales system that doesn’t require you to reinvent your marketing every month.
75+ clients have been through this process. The results — like Jennifer’s viral growth and Brittany’s $15K cash month — aren’t outliers. They’re what happens when you stop trying to be everything to everyone and start being the only obvious choice for someone specific.
And if you want to start right now, grab the free $10K Month Strategy Guide — it walks you through the full process with Brittany’s case study so you can see exactly where your gaps are before you apply.
Want to hear more about how my clients find their edge? Listen to Business Not As Usual wherever you get your podcasts.
