I Called It: The Coaching Economy Just Split (And Amy Porterfield Just Proved It)
Early 2025, I started telling my clients something most people thought was dramatic:
By early 2026, the coaching industry would split into two economies, and only one would survive.
I advised them to get out of courses, move upmarket, and pivot from information to interpretation, from educator to advisor.
By November 2025, I wrote a blog detailing this prediction and outlining exactly how the split would unfold. Some thought I was being extreme. Others thought I was early.
This week, Amy Porterfield, one of the biggest names in online courses, announced she’s closing Digital Course Academy and pivoting to high-touch coaching with a $150K minimum.
She’s not alone.
Ali Brown closed her signature training programs and now works exclusively with 7-8 figure women through private advisory. Ryan Levesque literally wrote that mid-tier programs in the $2,000 range don’t work anymore, and shifted to curated masterminds and strategic advisory for 7-figure+ businesses navigating the post-AI landscape.
The pattern is unmistakable.
The split I predicted isn’t coming. It’s here.
The Coaching World I Saw Coming
Mass-producing AI-assisted content, generic templates, and interchangeable offers. Everything looks the same. Everything sounds the same.
When value is indistinguishable, price is the only differentiator. This economy collapses under sameness.
Economy #2: The High-Touch Advisors
A smaller, elite group: coaches who provide discernment, interpretation, and strategic clarity.
Advisors who sit with clients, understand their business, and illuminate the one move that matters next.
You can’t automate wisdom. You can’t template discernment. You can’t outsource perspective.
My advice then was simple:
If you position yourself as a creator, you compete with AI. If you position yourself as an advisor, you compete with no one.
The Dominoes Are Falling
Amy Porterfield’s announcement isn’t an isolated decision. It’s confirmation.
She’s closing a program that generated millions annually and launching a high-touch coaching model instead.
Her requirements? Minimum $150K annual revenue. An established online business. A focus on clarity, direction, and strategy.
Listen to how she describes her new approach:
“Women who want clarity and direction and strategy… women who want someone who has walked the road you’re on to give you the straight path, not the maze.”
That’s not teaching. That’s discernment as a service.
Ali Brown made this move years ago, closing Elevate and her mass programs to work exclusively through private advisory and The Trust.
Ryan Levesque went even further, writing a very ‘controversial’ email at the time about $2,000 programs being squeezed, and he’s shifted to curated masterminds and strategic advisory for 7-figure+ businesses navigating the post-AI landscape.
Different businesses. Same conclusion.
The biggest names are moving upmarket because the commodity economy no longer sustains authority, or results.
Why This Shift Matters
If coaches with massive audiences can’t sustain traditional course models in 2026, the market is sending a clear signal:
Information became free: AI made content abundant and generic. A $997 course now competes with ChatGPT giving the same frameworks for free.
Discernment became priceless: Clients need someone who can look at their specific situation and say, “Here’s your ONE move. Everything else is distraction.” That isn’t a course, it’s advisory.
The middle collapsed: Ryan said it explicitly. Generic programs sit in no-man’s-land, caught between free AI and high-touch advisors.
The $150K floor is standard: Amy, Ali, and Ryan all work with established businesses. Below this, clients shop on price. Above it, they buy judgment.
The Mistake Most Coaches Are Making
Many think pivoting to “high-touch advisor” is just a messaging change:
Update the website. Raise prices. Rewrite the sales page.
Wrong.
You can’t just claim advisory status. You have to demonstrate it.
And here’s the trap: most coaches are still trying to build authority the old way.
They’re optimizing funnels. Writing better email sequences. Creating lead magnets. Posting on social media hoping the algorithm favors them.
All things AI can do. All things that treat potential clients like leads to be converted, not relationships to be built.
This is exactly backwards.
What AI Can’t Replicate
AI can write your emails. AI can create your content. AI can build your funnels.
You know what AI can’t do?
Command a stage. Build a real relationship. Demonstrate discernment in real-time.
The coaches winning $25K, $50K, $100K+ engagements aren’t the ones with the best funnels.
They’re the ones their ideal clients have actually seen. Heard. Experienced. Trusted.
They’re the ones who stepped onto stages and collapsed the journey from “Who is this person?” to “This is the expert I need” in 45 minutes.
Why Speaking Changes Everything
Think about where your ideal clients are right now.
They’re not sitting in their inbox waiting for your nurture sequence. They’re not scrolling Instagram hoping to discover you.
They’re at conferences. Summits. Industry events. Workshops.
They’re already in rooms with other entrepreneurs at their level, already in buying mode, already looking for the expert who can give them clarity.
When you’re on that stage, you’re not interrupting them. You’re not competing for attention. You’re the featured authority they came to learn from.
Speaking does three things funnels can’t:
1. It positions you as THE authority, not AN option
When you’re introduced from the stage, when your bio is read, when you deliver value to a room full of your ideal clients, you’re not one of many coaches they’re comparing. You’re the expert the event organizer vetted and chose.
2. It accelerates know-like-trust from months to minutes
A funnel tries to build relationship through a series of touchpoints over time. Email 1, email 2, email 3... hoping they’ll eventually trust you enough to buy.
A stage lets your ideal clients experience your thinking, your discernment, your perspective in real-time. They don’t just learn about you, they learn from you. The relationship is built before you ever have a sales conversation.
3. It puts you in front of clients already in buying mode
These aren’t cold leads you have to warm up. They invested time and often money to be in that room. They’re actively looking for solutions.
When you deliver a transformational talk, the question isn’t “Should I hire a coach?” It’s “Should I hire this coach?”
The Shift From Funnels to Relationships
Let me be specific about what I mean by speaking:
I’m not talking about starting a podcast and hoping people find you. I’m not talking about going live on Instagram.
I’m talking about being strategic about the stages you step onto:
Virtual summits where your ideal clients are already gathered
Industry conferences where $150K+ business owners invest to level up
Corporate workshops where decision-makers are in the room
Mastermind guest expert spots where high-ticket clients are actively looking for their next advisor
These aren’t random speaking opportunities. These are calculated moves that put you in front of qualified buyers who are ready for what you offer.
And when you deliver a talk that demonstrates your discernment, not just information, but interpretation, you don’t have to convince anyone you’re worth hiring.
They already know.
Here’s what I’ve watched happen with my clients:
The ones still optimizing funnels are grinding. Tweaking conversion rates, split-testing subject lines, trying to squeeze more revenue from the same tired system.
The ones who stepped onto stages are having different conversations entirely.
They’re not chasing leads. They’re having $50K strategy calls with people who heard them speak and said, “I need your help.”
They’re not explaining what they do. They’re declining clients because their calendar is full.
They’re not competing on price. They’re commanding fees that reflect the value of their discernment.
Because speaking built the relationship funnels never could.
The Two Paths Forward
Right now, you’re at a fork in the road.
Path 1: Keep doing what you’re doing
Optimize the funnel. Post more content. Hope the algorithm works in your favor. Compete with everyone else saying the same thing in slightly different words.
Watch as AI makes your information less valuable every single day.
Try to convince people through email sequences that you’re worth hiring.
This path leads to Economy #1. The commodity creator economy. The one that’s collapsing.
Path 2: Build authority through relationship
Get strategic about the stages you step onto. Position yourself in front of your ideal clients when they’re already in buying mode. Demonstrate your discernment in real-time. Build relationships that turn into high-ticket engagements.
This path leads to Economy #2. The high-touch advisor economy. The one that survives.
The Bottom Line
I predicted this split in January 2025. Told my clients to move upmarket immediately. Some thought I was being dramatic.
This week, one of the biggest names in online education validated everything I said. And she’s following a pattern set by others who saw it coming.
The coaching economy has split. The commodity creator economy is collapsing. The high-touch advisor economy is the only one that survives.
But here’s what most people still don’t understand:
You can’t just claim to be a high-touch advisor. You have to be positioned as one.
And in 2026, that positioning doesn’t come from funnels. It comes from relationships.
It comes from being the expert your ideal clients have actually seen, heard, and experienced.
It comes from commanding stages where $150K+ entrepreneurs are already gathered, already in buying mode, already looking for the clarity only you can provide.
Because here’s the truth AI will never change:
People don’t hire advisors from email sequences.
They hire advisors they trust.
And trust is built through a relationship.
P.S. If this resonated and you’re ready to work at the level where signal matters more than noise, here are the three places I do that work.
Economy #2 Positioning VIP Day
A full day working directly with me to clarify your positioning and build for the economy that actually exists right now.
SPAR - Strategic Peer Advisory Room
A small, private group of coaches and consultants thinking through real decisions, real positioning, and real growth strategy together. Not a membership. A room you earn your place in.
Private Advisory
Direct, ongoing access for those who want to work on strategy and positioning at the highest level.
Learn more about all three at thembibheka.com/strategic-positioning-advisory
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Interesting perspective; however you lost me as soon as you wrote that coaches should drop the courses. Thomas Leonard (the “father” of coaching) probably rolled over in his grave.
Coaches don’t teach. That is what teachers do.
I have been a coach for over 30 years (thanks to the encouragement of TL) and in recent years (10 or so), the term coach is throw around incorrectly. It is often confused with “teacher/educator” and “consultant.”
Teachers transfer knowledge (e.g., courses). In other words they tell their students what to do.
Consultants are problem-solvers. They focus on strategy and outcomes for their clients. Want someone to show you how to do something? Hire a consultant.
A coach focuses on behavior change. They focus on potential and help their clients set goals. They also ask a LOT of questions and hold their clients accountable.
The only one of the three who is responsible for client results is the consultant, because they are experts in a specific area and do the work for the client. Teachers and coaches guide their clients, but they can’t make them do the work.
So, true coaching will always remain coaching. What you are referring to is the difference between teaching (generally low ticket) and consulting (generally high ticket).
YES, and — do you think at some point you could touch on like how people are spending? Because I definitely understand the need for discernment in a world riddled with bots, but I also think spending habits are changing and a lot of people who would have been interested in higher ticket may be pausing. Plus, I feel like there’s room to talk about only serving privileged audiences vs the people who need your expertise but may default to AI if you are only making room for people earning 150k/year.