This blog series will document the 10 week experience of Dr. David Skolnik as he goes through the OPEX Method Mentorship. Follow along as we add to this blog each week.

Minimum Viable Marketing Model For Coaches

If you feel awkward about sales, marketing, or social media as a coach, you are not alone. Week 9 of the OPEX Method Mentorship leans right into that discomfort and turns it into something useful: a clear, honest content strategy that supports your coaching business instead of distracting from it.

In this week, strength coach Dr. David Skolnik walks through how OPEX frames content, social media, and early-stage sales, with guidance from Candace and the OPEX and CoachRx teams. The focus is simple: how do you show up online in a way that feels like you, speaks to the right people, and actually helps them?

From Sets and Reps to Sales and Marketing

By Week 9, the mentorship shifts even further away from sets, reps, and program details and toward the business side of coaching. The topics are the ones many coaches avoid:

Sales
Marketing
Social media strategy
Content creation with a purpose

For a lot of coaches, this side of the work feels icky or fake. The fear is that selling means becoming someone you are not or hyping yourself up in a way that feels forced.

David shares that he has been creating social content consistently since 2017 and that he actually enjoys it. That alone makes him feel like an outlier. Many coaches tolerate content because they feel like they have to. He likes it, which is why he has been able to stay consistent for years.

Week 9 does not ask you to become a different person online. It asks you to get clear about who you are, who you serve, and why your coaching matters, then to share that in a consistent way.

Why Consistency in Content Matters More Than Virality

Candace put some helpful numbers on what it takes for someone to trust a coach enough to buy. Current research she shared suggests that, on average, a person will spend:

About 7 hours
Across 11 different pieces of content
In 4 different contexts

before they develop enough trust to invest in someone they believe can solve a problem.

You do not watch one 5-second reel and hand over your credit card. Your potential clients do not either.

Here is a simple way to picture it:

This mirrors how you already think about training.

You would never tell a client that one workout will change their life. You know even a year of training is often just the start. They get better, then they work to maintain or grow from there.

Content works the same way. One post does not build trust. One short burst of activity does not build a business. People need time with you, across multiple posts, in different places, before they feel safe enough to say, “Yes, I want help.”

Consistency is not about beating the algorithm. It is about giving real people enough exposure to your thinking, values, and approach so they can decide if you are the right coach for them.

What People Are Really Looking For Online

When someone scrolls past your content, they are not usually thinking, “I want a coach.” They are thinking about their own life.

Week 9 framed it clearly. Most people are:

Trying to improve their lives
Trying to simplify something they do not enjoy
Trying to connect with people who share their values

So your content is not just about the service you provide. It is about:

Why you provide it
What you believe in
Who you are as a person and as a coach

Everything plays a role:

How you sound
Your background or setting
Your energy level
The words you use
Even what you wear

Some people want a loud hype-style coach. Others want a calm, slow, measured mentor. David places himself in that second group, and he owns it.

The point is not to copy someone else’s style. The point is to show up in a way that helps your ideal clients say, “Yes, that is my person.”

Clarifying What Your Content Is For

A big theme of Week 9 was answering the questions most coaches whisper to themselves:

What am I supposed to post?
What is the point of my posts?
How does this lead to real clients?

To help with this, OPEX and the CoachRx team created a custom GPT that walks coaches through their Coaching Content Signature worksheet. You can also work through the same thought process on paper, in a Google Sheet, or inside a document.

Key questions from the Coaching Content Signature

The worksheet and GPT prompt you to slow down and answer questions like:

Who do you create content for? Not “everyone who wants to get fit,” but the specific type of person you serve best.
Who do you serve best right now? Think about the clients who get the best results with you.
What do they struggle with? Not just vague “motivation,” but clear problems they live with every day.
What do they really want? Sometimes it is not “lose 10 pounds.” It might be “I want to stop thinking about food all day” or “I want to keep up with my kids.”
Can you describe that in their words? When they see your content, it should feel like, “Oh my god, they are talking to me.”
What are they searching for? Think about what they type into Google or the search bar on Instagram.
How does the problem make them feel? Frustrated, ashamed, confused, overwhelmed, stuck. When you speak to the feeling, you show that you really understand.

You combine all of that with your own core beliefs and the things that make you different from the average coach. That is where your content starts to sound like you instead of a generic fitness account.

If you want more help on the education side, OPEX shares a lot of free material, like their coaching guides and resources, along with coaching tools through CoachRx free resources.

Turning Your Beliefs Into Binge-worthy Content

Once you know who you are talking to and what they care about, the next step is how you share it.

Week 9 focused on creating binge-worthy content. Not in the sense of flashy edits, but in the sense that someone can land on your page, consume multiple posts, learn a ton, and think, “If this is free, I wonder what it is like to work with them.”

The idea is simple:

Teach in public
Let people buy in private

Public teaching can show up in:

Short-form posts or reels
Long-form videos or articles
Carousel posts or infographics
Paid or free content

For example, let’s say your ideal client struggles with “I never stick to a workout plan.” You might create:

A short video that names that exact problem in their words
A longer post that explains why hopping between programs keeps them stuck
A simple checklist to help them choose one plan and stick to it for 12 weeks
A story about a client who had the same issue and what changed

You are not just saying, “Buy coaching.” You are saying, “Here is how this works, here is how you can try it yourself, and if you want more help, I am here.”

That matches the tone David described: “I want you to try to solve it yourself. If you cannot, I will still be here and I can help you after you have tried.”

Reframing Sales and Marketing for Coaches

Week 9 sets up a deeper dive into sales and marketing in Week 10, but the reframing already starts here.

Many coaches feel like sales means tricking people. The OPEX approach challenges that. If you believe in:

Exercise
Prescriptive, specific training
Guided, structured, professionally designed programs

then you also believe that people need this as much as, or more than, many other things they spend money on.

From that point of view, hiding your work or staying vague about who you help is not humble. It holds people back from help they actually need.

So the call to action from Week 9 is:

Get clear on who you want to talk to
Get clear on how you can help them
Then shout it from the rooftop in your content

The goal is not more noise. The goal is that more people in your community see you, hear you, and act on what you share.

When you do not show up, it is not just your business that loses. Your community also loses access to a coach who might have been the exact fit they were searching for.

The Tools Behind The Scenes

Throughout the mentorship, OPEX supports coaches with both education and systems.

In Week 9, that looked like:

A custom GPT built by the OPEX and CoachRx team to guide coaches through the Coaching Content Signature
A structured worksheet to capture who you help, what they struggle with, and what you believe
Space to write or speak your answers so your ideas are not stuck in your head

If you want to explore the broader education system behind this, you can look into the OPEX Method Mentorship and coaching education. For the software side of delivering coaching, there is the CoachRx professional coaching platform, which OPEX ties into their education and business mentorship.

The message is clear: your coaching skill and your content skill support each other. You do not have to become a full-time marketer, but you do have to learn how to communicate what you do.

Bringing It All Together

Week 9 of the OPEX Method Mentorship is not about hacks or tricks. It is about seeing content, social media, and early sales as a natural extension of coaching.

The main takeaways:

People need time, multiple posts, and different touchpoints before they trust you
Consistency in content is like consistency in training; it compounds over time
Your ideal clients care about their problems, values, and feelings, not your highlight reel
Clear answers about who you help and what you believe make content easier, not harder
Teaching in public lets people feel safe reaching out in private
When you show up and share your work, you serve both your business and your community

If you are a coach who has avoided content because it feels awkward, use these ideas as a starting point. Sit down, answer the questions from the Coaching Content Signature, and pick one small way to share your answers this week.

That first post might not change your business overnight, just like one workout does not change a body. But it might be the first of many touches that leads the right person to say, “I think this coach can help me.”

Next Steps

Become A Professional Coach.

Wherever you are on your coaching journey, learn a repeatable and proven system to simplify program design and build a sustainable career. See how the OPEX Method Mentorship can help you find your version of success as a professional coach.

Elevate Your Coaching Business

CoachRx empowers fitness coaches to excel in program design, nurture client relationships, and scale their businesses with unparalleled efficiency and insight. Discover why CoachRx is the preferred choice for fitness coaches seeking to differentiate and deliver exceptional services.

Continue To Learn & Grow

Whether you want to write better training programs, increase your knowledge of nutrition & lifestyle protocols, or work on your coaching business, LearnRx has got you covered with courses, playlists, tools, and resources on demand. New content added monthly.

Inside The OPEX Method Week 9: Content, Social Media, and Sales for Fitness Coaches