Coaching Blog

If you're interested in becoming a coach

...or you just want to add coaching skills to your resume - and you like doing a good deed, then you'll love this:

School of Coaching Mastery is presenting its signature coach training program for new coaches, Coaching Groundwork, for FREE! All you have to do it make an online contribution to Habitat for Humanity by March 30th and email us your receipt. You'll get to attend a special Coaching Groundwork course, live with Julia Stewart, SCM President on four consecutive days, March 30th - April 2nd.

Coaching Groundwork is normally $325. The most common feedback we get from this course is that people can't believe how much they learned in so short a time!

This is a rare opportunity to do something good and get something extremely valuable in return. And something that makes it extra special is that a benefactor will double your contribution to Habitat for Humanity!

To find out more and make your contribution, vist Coaching for Habitat.

 I've been reading Andy Wibbel's blog for years. Andy was one of the first people (that I knew) who really "got" the whole blogging thing and he generously shared, in an entertaining way, how all of us could use our blogs to connect to fans, partners, friends, etc., in a way that could help grow our businesses, while establishing us as thought leaders, rather than just annoying marketers.

In 2006, Andy published Blog Wild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging and mentioned me in it, as a success story. (Page 137 ;-)

Today, I read an intriguing article by Andy titled, 'What Rush Limbaugh Knows About Blogging'. It's really not about Rush Limbaugh, but about something Limbaugh does extremely well: Provide a reliable emotional experience to his followers.

Read Andy Wibbel's blog post here.

Most successful bloggers, entertainers and the like, provide this and as Andy says, ultimately, that's what brings people back.

It's the same thing that prompts me to open Notes from the Universe every morning, or pull up the latest episode of Oprah on my DVR. 

A few examples of emotional experiences a blog could provide, according to Andy  include, "a dip into something deeper, a rant at something crazy, a look at something sincere? A recipe for something yummy? Are you passionate or provocative?"

That was the hook for me: I wasn't quite sure what emotional experience my readers are having and I realize, that's really important!

So I'm going to put it to you. What emotional experience does my blog reliably provide to you? What is it that brings you back? 

And what reliable emotional experience are your readers getting from your blog? 

What are you going to commit to doing to improve the emotional experience of your blog?

People often ask me what makes coaching different from other professions, such as consulting and the like.

There are a number of things that set coaching apart from other professions, but one of the major skills that a coach has, that many other professionals lack, is that a coach knows how to talk with a client in a way that not only leads to successful solutions and strategies, but also leads to the client actually taking action and succeeding with those solutions.

That might sound like a big "Duh" to you, but if you are a professional expert in any field, then you've probably had the following frustrating experience... 

Whether you're a doctor, lawyer, indian chief, financial planner, personal trainer, dental hygienist (or parent); you've probably had client conversations where you:

1. Understood the client's problem perfectly

2. Came up with the best possible solution

3. Instructed the client in how to implement the solution effectively

4. The client agreed that your solution was the answer to their problem

5. The client promised to implement the solution as per your instructions, but...

The client never does what you tell them to do.

Clients can be so frustrating, right? Why do they pay you, if they're not going to follow your directions? Are they just lousy clients? Do they have a secret desire to fail? Are they here to just drive you crazy??

Actually no. The client isn't the problem here.

You are.

Good coaching is so extraordinarily effective, because a good coach knows how to have a conversation with a client that not only leads to the best solution, but - more importantly - leads to the client actually taking action and creating effective solutions in their own life. The majority of professional advisors out there have no idea how to do this.

It's is a genuine art, which other professionals would do well to copy. For now, though, it is essentially the terrain of the professional coach.The tools employed to create these amazing game-changing conversations include, but aren't limited to:

Curiosity, silence, acknowedgement, truth telling, planting seeds, connecting to values, challenging beliefs, being provocative, keeping it light, honing in on what the client really wants (not just what they say they want), clarifying, championing and more.

The right tool at the right moment makes all the difference between an expensive service that doesn't make a difference and a service that is so transformative that clients don't care what it costs. 

Which would you rather pay for?

Whether you want to become a coach, or you're a professional in another field who wants to have game-changing conversations with your clients, we have a program that will give you all the basics in just four weeks, called Coaching Groundwork. We're probably not charging  enough for it, but for now, you can join it for $325.

If you want to know more, visit our Coaching Groundwork page.

Copyright, Julia Stewart, 2009 

I have a pet peeve about Twitter. Actually no, it's not a peeve about Twitter, it's a peeve about some Twitter users.

Pardon me, If I sound a bit cranky, but here goes:

My peeve is with Twitter users who DM (direct message) me to thank me for following them and then try to sell me something in the same message. Geeze!

Have they stopped to think how low the barrier is to following others on Twitter? This is not something most of us consider too carefully, because the truth is, if you follow someone on Twitter who turns out to be a pain, it's soooo easy to UNfollow them.

So if somebody follows you, that's great, but it doesn't mean they are your fan - yet. If you manage to entertain, inform, assist, or somehow endear yourself to your followers, they might become fans, but give 'em a chance, puhleeze! 

The truth is, these days, many folks are pinching pennies like never before, so the odds that we want to buy from you are pretty low, anyway. And the DM pitch is particularly annoying, because most cell phone packages charge per message, so I'm paying a whopping 10 cents for each of those little ads!

I got several of them just yesterday and I'm making a public declaration:

Any future twits who DM me with a sales pitch are going to get UNfollowed pronto!

Of course, most tweeple who make these sorts of faux pas are just clumsy newbies. They've probably heard that Twitter is a great marketing tool and have no clue how it works, so maybe I should be more forgiving.

As Twitter power user, Guy Kawasakie once tweeted:

@guykawasaki Nobody gets Twitter for the first 2 months.

So I won't hold a grudge, but I'm standing firm on my declaration.

If you're new to Twitter, I have advice: Spend the first two months listening to what others say and observing how they respond to you. Once you get it, then you can use it gracefully to build relationships and do some occasional marketing, without annoying your followers.

Oh, and for a less peevish post on this topic: How to Get Me to Follow You On Twitter (And keep my follow).

What's your pet Twitter peeve? Share it in the comments, below. 

By the way, if you choose to follow me, I promise I won't DM you with ads. I'm at http://twitter.com/MasteryCoach. 

Where should you start when becoming a coach?

The days of simply printing up business cards and calling yourself a coach are over. Large scale surveys of professional coaches show that coaches without coach-specific training and certification are less successful than trained and certified coaches and are more likely to quit the profession within a few years. That can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in lost income, as well as the fun and fulfillment that comes from succeeding as a coach and helping your clients achieve what they really want.

There are hundreds of coaching schools to choose from, some that are excellent and some that are not so excellent, so choosing one can be an overwhelming decision.

I suggest you begin your quest for the perfect coach training school for you by first deciding which coach certification you want.

Why? Because there are fewer coach certifications to choose from and that choice will narrow down your options for coach training, making it easier to decide.

I also suggest you get certified by an independent not-for-profit certifying organization.

Why? A certification in almost any profession that comes from an independent certifying organization that is not-for-profit is usually seen as less-biased and therefore more respected than a certification that comes from the school where you trained. Standards vary between schools. In fact, there are a couple of training programs that claim to train and certify professional coaches in only a few days! Don’t be taken in by that promise.

The two most recognized independent not-for-profit coaching organizations that certify professional coaches are the IAC and the ICF.

We suggest you visit both the IAC and ICF websites to see which one you feel most drawn to. Both organizations have about the same number of subscribers and are well respected, but their certification processes are completely different. You can also view lists of licensed or approved coaching schools on each site. Choose a school that prepares you for the certification of your choice. Simple!

Have More Questions About Becoming a Coach?

Download our free Become a Coach eBook. It contains a free 8-hour coach training program, too!

Copyright, Julia Stewart, 2009

It's often said that investing in your business and/or your education is one of the smartest ways to invest your money, because both will pay for themselves many times over. It's especially smart to invest when prices are low.

About ten years ago, when I was becoming a coach, Thomas J Leonard, the founder of the coaching profession said...

Someday, everyone will have a coach.Given the power that great coaching has to transform lives, that was an awe-inspiring vision.

Thomas also said at that time, that in order for everyone to have a coach, coaches would have to get creative about how they deliver coaching to clients, because originally, coaching was just for the rich and famous and that's how it was priced, with most clients paying between $250 - $1000 per month for private coaching.

Coaching is not just for the rich and famous anymore...

Coaching went "mainstream" years ago and today, most people know or at least think they know what a life coach or business coach is. (No one has asked me what sport I coach in years!) That makes it much easier to market to folks who are neither rich nor famous. 

But one-to-one coaching is still pretty pricey.

So to bring quality coaching to the ever-growing coaching market, coaches are discovering more and better ways to leverage the economy of scale that exists for a service that is in very high demand. In other words, coaches are sharing coaching in innovative ways to higher numbers of people, who each pay less for the coaching they receive.

The first tier down from personal coaching is small group coaching, in which a small group of clients, say, 2 - 10 per group, meet with a coach a few times per month, and each client pays a smaller fee ($100-300 per month). The benefits of group coaching are similar to private coaching, because what the clients lose in personal attention from the coach, they make up with the extra value and synergy that's created by the group, itself.

Group coaching requires skills that are not needed in personal coaching, such making sure each client gets value and no one hogs the calls or hides out in a corner. For that reason, School of Coaching Mastery has its own Group Coaching training for our advanced students. Stay tuned for more on that.

A new form of group coaching that leverages economy of scale to an even greater level, is Compass Coaching. Compass was designed to bring low cost life coaching to people who want personal development, but who either can't or won't pay hundreds of dollars per month for it.

Unfortunately, economy of scale often means the client doesn't get the personal attention needed to really make change. That's why most people don't get lasting benefits from reading self-help books or attending workshops, which are also priced for the masses.

That's where Compass differs. Clients get a choice of "self-guided" online coaching via MP3's and workbooks, which brings passive income to the coach, or they can have large group coaching (10-30 clients), where they do get personal attention. The group coaching is priced incredibly low, $39-59 per month, because the passive income from the self-guided coaching makes up the income for the coach.

Long story short: Clients save a lot of money and coaches still earn plenty of money. Win-win.

It took me a while to see the value in Compass, because I'm not in favor of watering down the power of coaching, just to make it cheap. However, I'm highly in favor of bringing good, affordable coaching to virtually everyone on the planet. Compass has one of the best business models for doing that. I started to get that when I watched Compass CEO, Kim Fulcher, talk about her vision for Compass.

If you'd like to attend a live webinar with Kim Fulcher and hear how Compass can provide you with excellent large-group coaching, or how it can help you earn excellent passive income, Click below to register online and attend the live webinar with Kim Fulcher on Wednesday March 18th.