Archives – July, 2008
Got Clients, Got Office, Need Payment! Doesn't anyone use cash anymore?
Alright, got an office and clients are coming in for coaching. So here we sit at the end of a coaching session and it is time to pay. How weird can that get? No one carries cash anymore and I have clients paying by the session so what do we do? They scramble to get cash to pay me each time or they dig out a checkbook from some deep storage area and use the antiquated means of payment know as a check. How shall I put this…PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!! Plus every time they have to pay it becomes an opportunity to think about how much it costs and if they should continue. Amazingly, I get the idea this is not optimal!
Now it is time to tell my clients that we are about to have a change. After a great deal of thought, I decided that I should ask clients to coach for 6 months as a minimum and that I should be able to accept credit cards. I would like to set up a monthly credit card charge that automatically bills their credit card once a month. I figure that way I don't have to play bookkeeper. Great thinking Suzan…now how the hell do I do that?
How cool is the Internet? I explore to discover that there are companies, who for a small fee, will allow me to do everything I want and more! I found a couple of these Kick Start Cart and Practice Pay Solutions. The first step is to get a separate bank account for my business. Then I can open a merchant account with one of these companies. This process was pretty easy and painless. Now I can get my client's credit card information and have them on recurring billing! That means every month their credit card is automatically charged my monthly fee and I don't have to do anything!
Now all I need is more clients.
I know…I should join ICF locally! They want an annual fee and a meeting fee to join so I will go to a few meetings first and decide if I want to do that. So I go to a few ICF meetings and figure out that I am only going to meet other coaches and this is not going to help me get clients. Next move. One of my clients tell me about BNI a national referral group or as some call it networking group. That sounds better because it is comprised of people in different business categories who help each other with referrals. I think I will go to a meeting. Gotta love the Internet again…I go and find that there are about 25 groups of BNI in my city. How do I pick one? I know I will just go to a meeting and see how I like the group. I go and this seems like a good thing and it seems like I could get some business this way. I try several groups and pick the one that is most comfortable to me and join it. Not real cheap but I figure two clients will more than cover the cost.
Someone suggests I start doing speaking events to get clients. Aaaahhhh! Public Speaking?
After the initial flood of fear…I realized that new clients are not just going to come knock on my door so I decide to think about this idea a bit more. I could speak but that leads me to the question of what the heck am I going to talk about? I start to think about what my clients talk most about because I figure if there is something they all have as a common issue then many other people would have the same issue. Gosh, I am a smart one!!!
It seems that everyone of my clients is too busy and feels overwhelmed in life. Great topic for a workshop or presentation, Life Balance. Now it is time to start writing and thinking about how I can help people during my presentation and still make them want to become my clients as well. I have to give them some value and get across a sales pitch at the same time. I was in advertising for many years so I should be able to handle this.
What Have I Learned?
1) It has to be easy for your clients to pay you
2) Clients should know that they will be working with you for several months.
3) You have to market and network to get clients.
4) One great way to get new clients is through public speaking.
5) Workshops and seminars have to provide people with some value and learning rather than being one big fat sales pitch for coaching.
6) Here is a way to start a merchant account so you can take credit cards.
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July 30, 2008
Ready to see clients now!
OK, I have cards and a website so now it is time to start seeing clients and collect that 100 hours for ICF certification. I'm not feeling very confident in my abilities so I will consider this first 100 hours as a learning experience and charge $1 for coaching. Surely I will do well enough that some of these almost free folks will want to continue to coach at a very reasonable rate after I reach the 100 hour mark.
Alrighty then…now all I have to do is find some guinea pigs…I mean clients. Let's see who do I know that will be willing to do this and who will trust me to do this? Hey I lead over 70 people when I worked at a local church and surely some of those folks would like some free coaching. I also teach an exercise class and I know those people trust me. Then I do have friends who may know people that would like some cheap coaching. Cool, I will send out an email to the whole bunch of them. After all, I only need 10-15 people to coach for 8-10 sessions and I will have my 100 hours.
YIKES! Everyone I know wants coaching…who knew?
OK, first come first serve. I will just start making appointments and meeting people at coffee houses. Look out ICF and world…Here comes SUPER COACH!!!!! So this went pretty well with one huge exception! It is almost totally impossible to stay focused in between the unbelievably loud sounds of cappacino machines, other people talking on cell phones, and blenders. Never mind how focused they are I can't hear myself think not matter how centered I try to get. This ain't (that's Texas for is not) going to work! I really need an office, nothing big, about the size of a small bedroom will do. How much would that cost I wonder.
Give me some space!
Hey, there are some office condos near my house…I'll just drive by those, collect phone numbers, then call and see what is for rent. Boy, there are some wonderful deals out there but they are all for 3-4 room suites and I am just one little old me so that won't work. Plan B…I will call some of those executive suite places and see what they charge. Holy shit! Are they kidding me $800 a month for a stupid 100-150 square foot office! No *(&^%&^ing way!!!! Now it is time to get creative…how about Craig's list? Yep, I'm gonna give that one a try. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS ONE!!! I went on Craig's list saw one sub-lease out of about 40 that looked good enough to email so I did. The next morning I get a call from one of the ladies in my exercise class asking if I had checked my email yet…well no I had not. The one, single, only, and first office space I tried from Craig's list was hers!!! Do not tell me that there is not a plan!!! AMAZING and even better… it is my very own slightly larger than a walk-in closet space for only $250 a month bills and everything. I HAVE A HOME!!!! Crap…I just got 250 business cards with my home address on them…good thing they were cheap.
What I Learned
1) There is a great need for coaching out there in the world.
2) It is very easy to get clients for $1 a session
3) Driving all over town to coach in coffee shops is not a great idea.
4) You can get a small office sub-lease for very little money and God is at work in my life!
5) Having an office sure made me feel real.
6) Might be a good idea to get cheap business cards until you are fully established.
July 28, 2008
I'm not feeling home at all looking at this blank homepage!
Talk about an intimidating experience! Looking at a blank website template caused me to be paralyzed with fear…aaaaahhhhh…what can I say on this page that will make someone want to come to me for coaching? Who do I want to coach anyway? What is my niche? How do I figure out what my niche is? Where do I start?
Let them know you understand them.
Then it struck me. I could answer my own questions and by doing so I would find solutions. OK, first things first…who do I want to coach? This one was easy for me because I have just recovered from being one of the people I want to coach. I want to coach people who live a life that is out of balance. I want to coach people who have let work take over their lives leaving them unfulfilled and stressed. I spent many years in media sales so I knew that I need to attract customers by solving their problems and providing them with solutions so I began a list of all the little indicators or little pains that a person living an unbalanced life would experience. Things like not getting enough sleep, the cell phone ringing constantly, no time for exercise, no quiet time, etc. I kept listing all the little mini problems I could think of then I went to some friends that I suspected would consider their lives out of balance and asked them about their problems and challenges. Many of these challenges were quite familiar to me because I had experienced them myself and I knew some of them held a great deal of "charge" for me.
I understand and I have a solution for you.
I decided that if I could show people that I knew their situation and their challenges and I had solutions for them, I would attract customers. I also know that there are things in life that you just don't know until you know…you know? What it is like to have a new baby cannot be explained to anyone. What it is like to have depression is hard to understand unless you have experienced it. I can't tell a 20 year old what it is like to be in your forty's and I cannot truly understand what it is like to be over 70. You get the point. Oh, oh, oh, I have a good one…you people have no idea what it is like to be 4' 11" tall and not be able to drive any stupid sports car because you can't see over the dashboard!
I know that when I have a challenge and I find someone that understands where I am coming from and they have a solution for me…I am very interested! That is what I decided my home page needed to communicate.
If you enjoyed this post you can get my FREE eCourse by going to"Coaching Business Blast Off".
What I learned today
1) Figure out who I want to coach or what my niche is.
2) Find the mini problems and challenges these folks face.
3) Let them know I understand them.
4) Let them know I have a solution.
July 10, 2008
How am I going to design business cards?
The next thing I had to figure out is how the heck to get a website. I had to have a website if I was planning to put the web address on my business card and any legit business has a website. This one could have stopped me in my tracks because this is an area I know nothing about! The first thing you need is a domain. I went to www.godaddy.com to find an available domain name. I chose a name and no surprise to me it was not available. There are a few tricks about choosing a domain name. Make sure that common search words are in the domain name and that it represents your business. I found that my original choice was taken so I started to change the order of the words in my name and still no luck. Finally, I found that by adding a word like team or group the the end of my name worked.
What are the first steps to getting a domain and web address?
Whew! Name accomplished. The next step to getting a website up was to find a place to host the website. This is where I made a big mistake…be sure the place you choose to host your website will handle all the possible things you may choose to do on your website like ecommerce! I chose one that does not accommodate everything I wish to do in the future. I also needed a website host that had templates for designing my website because I am not looking to pay a web-designer. There are several options for hosting that can be found by searching for website hosting. I suggest you go for a blog rather than a website. I talk about this in detail in my post Coaching Business: Blog vs. Website. I strongly suggest that you start with a blog (took me months to figure this out so I am going back to edit this post now). If you do choose a blog, I highly reccoment Typepad for blog hosting.
What about printing business cards and how do you design them?
Now I had a website address so I could finish up the business cards process. I chose an online business card printer that was very inexpensive. There are many available on the Internet and I also discovered a few tricks to getting the most value. These websites have business card templates available so there is not need to design your own card unless you want to. I chose to put information on the front and back of my card. On the front, I put the usual stuff and on the back I put a description of what benefits my business offered and a description of the problems my business can solve. Using the back of the card is a great idea especially if you business may need more description than just a name. The truth is people buy solutions so any solution you can add is great. One other little trick is to go through the order process and if there is an opportunity to upgrade the order to a greater amount at a reasonable price…take it. I found that the upgrade was less expensive than placing a large order initially. I used Vista Print.
If you liked this post you can get more information about starting a Coaching Business by going to "Coaching Business Blast Off" and getting my free eCourse.
What I learned today.
1) There is a website to do almost anything!
2) Your website name should represent your business and include words that someone might use in a search.
3) Adding a word like team or group to your preferred name can be helpful when looking for an available domain name.
4) Make sure the place you choose to host your website has all the functions you want or may want in the future. Website tonight was a good choice for me.
5) Use the back of your business card to describe the benefits or your business or the problems you solve.
6) Check out the whole order process and take advantage of ordering offers that make sense.
July 9, 2008
So this is it…I am starting a blog. I asked myself…self…why don’t you start a blog about all the things you are doing as you start to really market your coaching business. Then before I knew it I had talked myself into this process. So here we go and I have no idea what this ride will be like.
What is the First Thing I Should Do?
Get some business cards of course! If you want to look like a legitimate business you have to have business cards, everyone knows that. OK, good idea, so how the heck am I going to design a business card, where do I get it printed, and what will I call my company? These questions could have stopped me for months pondering what would be the best name and "look" for my business. After all, I was in advertising once and that means I should have some really cool looking and sounding stuff. Most of all I have to have a really catchy name that makes everyone say oooohhhhh that’s clever, I can clearly see that she must have been a real advertising genius.
A Name?
This name thing caused me some stress because I had to really like the name as I would be stuck with it forever. I wanted a name that represented my values and what my business was going to be about. I thought about it and the name Full Life Coaching came to me. I liked it. Not too long, not to specific yet is said you would have a full life and that sounds appealing. That’s it now I had a name! YIPPEE, YEAH, YAHOO!!!!
Good I have a name to put on these business cards now I need all the other essential information, an address, a phone number, an email address, and a website. Oh crap!!!! I don’t have an address other than my home address, should I use my cell number, do I need a new email so my business stuff is separate from my other stuff, and a WEBSITE. I don’t know the first thing about getting a website!!
OK, calm down…you can do this. We will just take it one piece at a time so let’s start with the address that is easy. I don’t have an office so I have to use my home address or get a P.O. box. I don’t want to go get mail at a P.O. Box so for now I will use the home address. Done. Phone number that’s not too tough…I will use my cell phone so I can take calls anywhere anytime. I can always get more minutes if I need to because the reason I will need to is because I will be doing so many coaching call and making so much money that the price of a few more minutes will seem trivial. Cell phone it is! I can’t handle many more critical decisions today so I will think about one more then I am done. Email address…nope don’t want to mix business and personal so I need to get a new email address. My 18 year old son is all over gmail and he says it is the best because it is fully functional anywhere on any computer and my current account is not. Easy enough now all I have to do is figure out how to get a gmail account and name to use. This is where I made a mistake because I used my name and I wish I would have used my company name. Oh well, nobody is perfect and I suppose this is fine too.
What Did I Learn Today?
1) Find a good name for the business. One that is descriptive and inspirational.
2) Decide on an address or P.O. Box. The one good thing about a P.O. Box is that it doesn’t change if you move.
3) Use a phone number where you can be contacted or where someone will answer the phone.
4) An email address that matches your company name and identifies you is best. It is important that you can retrieve and respond to email from any computer anywhere so choose a service that supports that.
July 7, 2008
I will be working on this blog tomorrow
July 5, 2008
