Archives – June, 2009
There is a lot to learn about running and marketing a coaching business and in the process of getting a business going or learning new ways to attract client many coaches find themselves in a state of overwhelm. They have a large number of things that need to be done but they don't know where to start so the response is to do nothing.
Are Your Emotions Causing You to Stall Out in Your Coaching Business?
Too many coaches are unknowingly caught up in their emotions about different aspects of starting and growing a coaching business. These emotions sneak up and stall us out until we uncover them and learn how to overcome limiting thoughts and beliefs.
Overwhelm
We all know what happens when we do nothing. Yes, you guessed it nothing happens and our coaching business goes nowhere! Don't let overwhelm paralyze you.
The only way to overcome overwhelm is to plan. Even if you can only plan goals for one month go ahead and determine your goal. Begin to put daily strategies in place that will help you reach your goal. Take the goal step by step and only one major goal at a time.
Don't try to achieve six major goals in one month. Pick one or two major things and plan the actions you will need to take each week to achieve the two goals. Each day take a look at what you have to do that day and make a check list.
Lack of Confidence
There can be a lot of fear involved in trying something new especially something that involves technical skills, the well being of someone else or, public speaking skills. A successful coaching business can involve all of those things simultaneously. So you have to have a plan for dealing with the challenges.
The first step to dealing with this kind of fear is to recognize that it exists. It is easily hidden behind another emotion or line of thinking. Not charging enough for your coaching is the disguised version of the fear that you are not a competent coach but that can be difficult to see. Not going out and doing workshops or finding a coaching niche can be the fear of public speaking disguised as uncertainty about what area of coaching is best for you.
Once you recognize that something is holding you back from achieving the goals you have set then you can take a closer look to determine what fear may lie behind your inaction.
June 30, 2009
Are you stuck or stalled in your coaching business? Perhaps you have some clients but you are not exactly reeling them in on a daily basis and perhaps you would like to be earning more money. You are not alone in fact most coaches have experienced the very same thing. I would like to talk about a few of the emotions that could be holding you back.
Perfectionism
Far too many coaches fail to get off the launching pad because they have an underlying desire to be perfect. This perfectionist attitude can stop you from starting anything if you don't think you can do it flawlessly. What happens if you coach someone and their life does not change? What if you coach someone and "bad" things happen to them? What if the solutions you help them find only create more challenges?
First let's remember that coaching is fluid and it is not all about you and how you coach. I firmly believe that you could be a monkey and be a good coach as long as you were a monkey that had good listening skills.
Think about how many people just need someone to listen to them with good listening skills! I believe that if you sat through an entire coaching session and did nothing more than listen to your client and encourage them to keep talking through their issues the client would receive great value from you as a coach. So don't let yourself believe the lie that coaching is totally dependent upon you or your coaching skills.
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June 29, 2009
Statistics show that ninety percent of coaches make less than ten thousand dollars a year coaching. Why is that true? I think it is because too many coaches don't get out and seek clients. They are busy taking more courses to become a better coach or networking with other coaches. This article takes a look at the emotions behind this issue.
Perfectionism
Far too many coaches fail to get off the launching pad because they have an underlying desire to be perfect. This perfectionist attitude can stop you from starting anything if you don't think you can do it flawlessly. What happens if you coach someone and their life does not change? What if you coach someone and "bad" things happen to them? What if the solutions you help them find only create more challenges?
First let's remember that coaching is fluid and it is not all about you and how you coach. I firmly believe that you could be a monkey and be a good coach as long as you were a monkey that had good listening skills.
Think about how many people just need someone to listen to them with good listening skills! I believe that if you sat through an entire coaching session and did nothing more than listen to your client and encourage them to keep talking through their issues the client would receive great value from you as a coach. So don't let yourself believe the lie that coaching is totally dependent upon you or your coaching skills.
The fact is that if you want to get better at coaching you have to coach a lot. That means that you start now and go get some coaching clients. No, you will not be perfect and yes, you will make some mistakes but that is how we learn and improve our skills. I can guarantee that your skills as a coach will not increase until you begin coaching lots of clients.
Information Stagnation
Another perfectionist attitude I hear from coaches is I can't start marketing and doing things like the Internet or giving workshops because I don't have enough training.
Coaches are people who are curious and like to learn but this is a trap many coaches fall into and I call it "Information Stagnation". The thinking behind information stagnation is that one does not have the skills to do something perfectly therefore, one must take more classes and learn more before beginning a coaching business.
Wrong, the best way to learn is to be practicing coaching while getting information and input. You can get better at coaching by taking courses and I highly suggest it but you can also get in a rut of taking classes and never coaching.
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June 28, 2009
I have found it very surprising how starting a coaching business and marketing on the internet has affected me emotionally! I have observed myself and several other colleagues go through some very challenging and uncomfortable emotions while creating the dream of being an entrepreneur.
It seems that the process forces one to address many limiting thoughts and beliefs and overcome them if we are to have success. It also seems that these emotional challenges came as a complete surprise to each person and in many cases were the downfall of their coaching business. I want to address these seemingly predictable and normal emotional hurdles so that you can be prepared for them and have a plan for working through them on your way to success as a coach.
Creating and Maintaining a Beginners Attitude
Try to think back to the time you were learning to ride a bicycle and how you approached the challenge and how you achieved the goal you highly desired. The first thing you may remember is you knew you did not know how to ride a bike. You had some knowledge of how to ride a bike because you had observed others and you had practiced the activity in your mind but you were keenly aware that you had no experience or proven skill for riding a bike. You were probably eager and willing to listen to others who had bike riding experience and follow their direction and guidance.
This is a great way to approach starting your coaching business. You have seen others who have become successful coaches so you have made observations and have some knowledge. The key is to find a person who can help you with what you do not know. You must accept that though you have completed coaching school there s still a lot that you may not know about having a successful coaching business.
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June 26, 2009
The idea is to earn more money with less time and effort and to even earn passive income. Coaching is a demanding profession and is limited to some degree by the number of hours in a day and the amount of time you can coach. Essentially you are trading hours for money with one on one coaching.
I think it is important to add multiple streams of income and to mix up the activities in your business day because of the emotional toll from a long day of one on one coaching. You can add relief and variety to your work day and dramatically increase your earning power by creating coaching products.
Group coaching is one product that you can offer to increase your rate per hour. Group coaching has many advantages for you and for the clients. As a coach you are able to reach many more people when you add group coaching and you are able to earn more per hour of coaching.
Coaching clients can pay a lower rate for group coaching and they also benefit from the input of the collective group. There is an electricity and a wonderful group dynamic that is created when people who are trying to deal with similar issues, challenges and goals come together to find solutions. I feel the benefit for everyone increases with well done group coaching.
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June 25, 2009
Begin Working on Your Internet Business by Starting a Blog
Blogs are a great way to share valuable information with your potential coaching clients and give them an opportunity to see how you can help them.
Blogs are superior to websites because you can update them with new information frequently drawing the search engines to the blog and improving search page rank.
It is essential that you get you information out to the public so that potential coaching clients can see that you have some solutions that will meet their needs.
A blog is a central point of contact for your potential coaching clients. This is the place they can go to gather information and to communicate with you. You can promote and give access to your coaching and products on your blog. Essentially your blog will become the hub of your business wheel that will soon have many spokes providing multiple sources of income to your coaching business.
I suggest Typepad for a blogging platform because it is inexpensive and easy to use. The blog you are reading right now is Typepad.
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June 24, 2009
Coaches tell me they want a successful coaching business all the time but when I ask them what does your business plan look like? "What is your marketing strategy?" Even "Who is your target coaching niche?" I get the same response "Well, I don't really have one yet." Well, I ask, how is that working for you?
Failing to plan for your coaching business is like planning to fail in your coaching business. You have to have a plan and work that plan. Would you go to a surgeon who did not have a plan for your surgery? Would you go to an accountant who did not have a plan for your taxes? Then why would you allow yourself not to have a plan for your own business?
Develop Your Marketing Plan and Work It
You must have a plan to marketing and grow your coaching business. Success does not usually happen by accident it requires planning and hard work on a consistent basis. Start with a marketing plan for your coaching business. Set goals and determine the strategies you will employ to reach those goals.
Your goals should include the income you desire, the number of hours you wish to work, the type of clients you want to work with, where you want to work and how you want to structure your business. Goals are not simply numbers of hours coaching or income earned they include lifestyle choices.
If you don't have a plan for how to attract clients to your coaching business then you need to get my "No Sales Required Client Attraction" home study program.
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June 23, 2009
Every coach starts off differently but I have found that there are certain steps that prove to be effective for most coaches who want to generate some income right away. It is a great idea to begin generating income in your local market so you have ample funds to begin the process of marketing in a bigger scale and so you have some financial security and peace of mind.
Choose Your Target Coaching Niche
This single step is the most important element to the success of your coaching business. Your target coaching niche is the basis from which many key business decisions are made. Take your time and research your potential target coaching niches to choose the one best suited to you that is a viable market segment.
Your target coaching niche must be a potentially profitable market that suits your experience, passion, education, aptitudes, and interests. It is best to use some formal process to determine your target coaching niche. You can use your own process or you can use a process offered by people who have already succeeded in coaching.
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June 22, 2009
Facebook is a popular social media site that has many functions and tools within the site. It will take you a while to find your way around this platform so take some time to explore Facebook.
It is important that you pay attention to what you put in your profile. People will go to your profile to find out who you are, what you do, who you help and what you have to offer them so be sure to include that information, a website URL, and a call to action. Do not give too much personal information in your profile.
Facebook
Facebook is a social media site that has many features so we will only cover the ones that aid in business. When you join Facebook you will become friends with people and you will invite them to be friends with you. I suggest that when you ask someone to be your friend that you include a message that tells them who you are and why you would like to be there friend.
Groups
Facebook has many opportunities to join groups that relate to your target coaching niche. There are tons of different groups on Facebook and you can find a group that has almost anything you can think of for a group theme. Join groups that have a purpose that relates to your target coaching niche and invite the group members to become your friend. Don't forget to include a message that lets them know you are in a group together and that is why you want to be their friend.
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June 17, 2009
It can sound like people are speaking a foriegn language when you hear all the different words like tweet, tweeting, follow Friday, hash tag, and direct message. Twitter has grown to be a huge social media tool. Even CNN has a "Twitter Board."
Twitter is a great social media tool and it can be your most valuable marketing tool if you use it right. You can reach many targeted users and share your knowledge while attracting them to your coaching business. This article will cover the basics of Twitter and how you can use it as a marketing tool to grow your coaching business.
Twitter
Twitter is a micro-blogging network. You can post brief 140 character messages on Twitter. This makes you become a great copy writer because you must get down to the core elements of every thought if you have to get your point across in 140 characters or less.
On twitter you have followers and you follow people. The first challenge is figuring out who you want to follow. I suggest finding a few leaders in your target niche and following them. The next step is to go to their page and see how many other people are following them. It is very likely that a successful thought leader in your niche will have thousands of followers so you can begin by following the people that are following the thought leader. Soon the people you have followed will follow you back and your list of followers who have an interest in your target coaching niche will begin to grow.
Perfect Your Profile
Make certain that your profile is set up to attract potential coaching clients and direct them to your blog or website. Your profile on Twitter is a crucial part of building your reputation and your business so you want to be very deliberate about what you include in your Twitter profile.
Always
include a photograph. This is social media and people want to know what
you look like so they can get to know you. Make sure that your
photograph is professional and that you look happy an to others. I see too many photos that look like a mug shot rather than an invitation.
Make sure your profile includes your unique selling proposing or branding statement. Include an offer and where someone can take you up on your offer. Send them to your opt-in page so they can get whatever you are offering and you can get their name and email address.
There are many places that you can find interesting Twitter backgrounds that allow you to promote your business and provide information as a part of the background. Just search for Twitter backgrounds and you will find many resources.
Like any group Twitter has its own language so I want to give you a few terms and definitions used on Twitter. Tweet is a message on Twitter. You can also suggest people for others to follow and Friday is the traditional day to suggest people for others to follow. Twitter users call this "follow Friday" and use a hash tag or pound symbol to classify a follow Friday tweet. When you see #FF or #followfriday you will know that that is a way of placing that message in a specific group.
Suggesting that people follow others is a great way to gain rapport with Twitter people and it is a great way to spread your message virally. Another tradition on Twitter is to re-tweet a post that you think is especially good. You do this by using the persons Twitter name and typing RT in front of their Tweet. Re-tweeting will quickly win you fans on Twitter.
Try to tweet your own original content rather than constantly tweeting quotes from others because you are promoting you and your business. An occasional quote is fine but not too many.
Twitter is also a wonderful resource for doing research in your target coaching niche. You can ask questions and ask for opinions on Twitter and get instant feedback.
There is literally hundreds of Twitter applications that do all sorts of thing here are a few. Tweetlater.com allows you to schedule tweets for the future. Friendorfollow.com helps you look at who is following you and who is not. Tweetdeck.com does all sorts different things. If you Google Twitter applications you will find many. I have to wonder if you need an application to deal with your Twitter account then are you spending too much time on Twitter and not enough time producing income.
June 16, 2009
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