Coaching Blog

It's popular to use coaching as an upsell product with an upscale name like, platinum, diamond, gold, or elite.

This is usually based on a business model that starts with a big 'reach' (tens of thousands of email subscribers and followers on social networks), then moves to thousands of leads (people who signed up for something for free), then hundreds of customers (people who bought something in the $20 - $500 range) and finally moves to the small end of the marketing funnel with a few small-group or one-on-one coaching clients who pay you hundreds or thousands of dollars per month for your attention and time, a.k.a Coaching. This is called a marketing funnel, because it starts with a huge number of contacts and funnels down to a small number of clients who each pays you handsomely.

There are huge problems with using a marketing funnel when you're first building your coaching business.

The first problem is that it takes an incredible amount of time, effort and often expense to build a marketing funnel and during all that time, you're making little or no money. (Try supporting yourself with sales of a $19.95 ebook when you only have a 500-person mailing list. Even if you're marketing is extremely effective and you sell to 4% of your list, that's $399.)

The second and more insidious problem with using a marketing funnel to build your coaching business is that you're not spending your time coaching. You must coach a lot more than you may think to become masterful enough to succeed at coaching people in high-end programs. And if coaching is your true calling, then you need to do a lot of coaching just to be happy and fulfilled. Sadder still, is that coaching pays really well, but you're not coaching and probably not making the money you deserve to make.

Don't believe anyone who tells you that you can't fill your coaching business with one-to-one coaching clients from the very beginning.

People who say you can't make a living with one-to-one coaching fall into two groups:

1. Coaches who couldn't fill their own coaching businesses with one-to-one clients and therefore think you can't either. That's an assumption that can derail your coaching business. Don't fall for it.
2. People who aren't really coaches, but are either internet marketers, authors or speakers who use coaching as an upsell product and want to teach you their 'method'. Don't fall for that either; not if you're serious about spending your time helping people by coaching them one-to-one or in small groups. 

You'll never find success wandering down blind alleys.

That's what Urban Coaching Myths are: blind alleys for you and your coaching business. Coaches beware!

This particular coaching myth is so insidious and so routinely embraced, that it has probably hamstrung dozens (if not thousands) of coaching businesses. What a crime!

It's sourced in half-understood truths about marketing, a failure to make important distinctions, hearsay and just plain bad coaching. I may get hate mail for saying this, but somebody needs to tell the truth!

The myth, "You need to know your coaching niche before you can market your coaching business", is a lie!

How do I know this? I've experienced it myself and I've coaching zillions of coaches who have been stumped by this bad advice.

For example, Chris Barrow, "The Million Dollar Coach" built his million-dollar grossing coaching business by specializing in coaching dentists in the UK. He didn't know that dentists were his niche until he had coached a lot of them, realized that he had become an expert on building a thriving dental practice in the UK (previously he knew nothing about dentistry), and noticed that dentists were referring a lot of friends to him. Then he started making a million dollars a year. That's a real niche. Anything else is just play acting.

Trying to find your niche before you've coached a lot of people is really just putting the cart ahead of the horse. It's a waste of time and energy because the truth is...

1. You need to coach a lot of people, first, in order to find your niche.
2. You can build a successful coaching business even without knowing your niche. 

Which do you really want, a coaching niche or a successful coaching business?

• Internet marketing "gurus"
• Marketing courses
• Inexperienced mentor coaches
• Buddy coaches
• Coaching listserves
• Coaching chapters

It's the old "they say" circuit that's been a source of misinformation of all kinds since the dawning of human communication. None of the above is bad in and of itself. Used well, all are very good. However, ineffective advice never helped anybody.

And those distinctions I mentioned? I've placed a few them in a quick quiz to help you distinguish whether you really need a niche in order to coach, or whether you need to coach before you'll ever find your real niche.

Quick Quiz

1. Are you:

a) A professional coach

b) An internet marketer

2. Do you want to sell:

a) Your coaching services

b) "Widgets" and digital products

3. Do you want to focus on:

a) Building a long-term profitable coaching business

b) Making a quick killing selling a product

4. Are you:

a) Someone who is smart and sensible

b) Someone who believes everything you hear

 

Get a flashlight: Take Coach 100 courses to learn a lot more about what it really takes to build a successful coaching business.

Should you get coach certification or fill your practice, first?

I get asked this question a lot by coaches that I'm mentoring, because these are two of my mentor coach specialties (the other is advanced personal development).

I'm a little mystified by this question. Why does it have to be either/or?

Most coaches aren't independantly wealthy, so getting clients quickly is important to them. On the other hand, they know that getting certified is important, too. Not so much because it's important to clients - most potential clients won't even ask if you're certified. The real reason certification helps coaches be successful is because it helps them get past feeling insecure, like frauds, like people who don't quite know what they're doing, yet.

That's the Kiss of Death for coaches who are trying to sell their coaching services!

So, the stamp of approval that certifcation brings is important to the coach, not the client.

However, coach certification can take years of hard work. How do you survive in the process? Well, fill your coachng practice, of course. But hold on! How do you fill your practice if you're still suffering from the Kiss of Death??

That's why the Coach 100 Program is designed the way that it is. To make it easy to sign on clients, even though you're new to coaching. There's something about being part of a program and having made a commitment to coach 100 people that makes it easy to ask people to help you out by letting you give them complimentary sessions. Each session you give is priceless practice for your coaching skills and your selling skills. Long before you finish coaching 100 people, you'll be excellent at both and getting clients and certifications will be a piece of cake. 

Not only that, but you'll get the Certified Experienced Coach designation, too. With 100 clients under your belt, you'll have strong skills and certification, too. No more Kiss of Death!

Hmm, Kiss of Death or Piece of Cake? That's an easy one.

If you don't know the Coach 100 techniques to invite people to complimentary sessions, take Coach 100 classes #1 through #4. (a.k.a. C100 Module 1)

Find out more about the Coach 100 Business Success Program.