Coaching Blog

Does Your Money Story Support Your Coaching Business?

Posted by Julia Stewart

The Secret anguage of Money

Members of the IAC North American Virtual Coaching Chapter Are In for a Treat.

In our next virtual meeting, July 12th, 2-3 PM ET, I'll be interviewing David Krueger, MD, coach, former psychiatrist, and author of The Secret Language of Money. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best, if not THE best book ever written about money, at least from a coaching standpoint. It has profound implications for coaches and their businesses, as well as for our clients.

If you are a coach who loves the profession, but wishes you were making more money with it, you need to be at this interview. Why? Because you'll gain awareness about how you think and feel about money that you won't get anywhere else. And let's face it, awareness is the first step to lasting change. You can't attract more money if you're unconscious of how you're preventing yourself from having it.

To illustrate, here's a little money exercise that I learned from David: Think about how much money you make (bring in) right now. Write that number down. Now think about how much money you need to really be happy, to live the way you really want. Write that number down. We'll come back to this exercise later in this post.

I've worked with hundreds of coaches. The differences in their levels of success come down to one thing: Their attitudes about making money. Some of the coaches I've worked with make thousands of dollars, per client, per month and have a waiting list. Others have zero paying clients for years. Yes, their coaching and marketing skills matter and so does their experience and level of personal development. But a coach can have all of that in place and still not have enough clients. Or they can have an abundance of clients from the very beginning.

David says your money is your longest-running relationship. Your family talked about it before you were born and your heirs will talk about it after you're gone. In between, like it or not, hardly any of your choices have not been tinged by money concerns. Doesn't it make sense to understand and develop a loving relationship with your money?

Even if you're a coach who has more clients than you can handle, you probably are unconsciously making money choices that keep you stuck. Understand your money story and get the freedom you really crave from your coaching business.

I'll be asking David money questions that are pertinent to coaches. If you've got a question you'd like me to ask, add it to the comments, below. We'll also have an open Q&A period, because we want you to get the insights you need to succeed on your own terms.

Back to our money exercise: Look at the two amounts of money you wrote down. Is the second one, which was the amount of money you need to be really happy, larger than the first, the amount of money you'r making now? If you're like most people, it is TWICE as large. On average, most people think they need to double their money, in order to be happy. Here's the kicker: even people who have already doubled their incomes believe they still need twice as much money to be happy! In other words, there is no such thing as 'enough money'! The difference in whether the 'not enough money' belief helps or hinders you is the meaning you give to it. You need to understand that meaning, because it's the key to finding genuine happiness.

To get in on this important July 12th call, you need to join the IAC North American Virtual Chapter. All coaches and people interested in coaching are welcome for free.

Join the coaching chapter

 

Join the coaching chapter here and attend this important interview about your money.

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, Coaches, coaching clients, Free, coach, IAC

5 Reasons Life and Business Coaches Need Inbound Marketing

Posted by Julia Stewart

Inbound Marketing for coachesIf you are a coach because you enjoy helping people, the last thing you want to do is bombard them with marketing hype.

And yet, most marketing programs do just that. Here's one that doesn't and it won't cost you a cent, because it's free on this site.

We use it and we love it. Maybe you will too. But don't take our word for it. Use it because it's right for your business.

5 Reasons why inbound marketing is right for your business:

1. Inbound Marketing is based on relationship building and mutual respect. This is the foundation of any effective coaching relationship and you simply can't have it if your marketing is based on annoying or manipulating people. So if you've been put off by marketing up until now, your intuition has been steering your right!

2. Inbound Marketing is all about listening first. As an advanced communicator, you know that listening is the first step in any transformational conversation. How can your attract your ideal clients if you're not listening to them first?

3. Inbound Marketing is not about you. Great coaching is always all about the client, so how can you market your coaching if you make it all about you? Learn to attract clients by making it all about them from the very beginning.

4. Inbound Marketing leverages your natural generosity. Great coaches are creative and love to give. If that's you, then inbound marketing is the perfect way to leverage your creativity and generosity. What could be more fun?

5. Inbound Marketing works. Don't let any 'marketing maven' tell you that you have to do things that make you cringe in order to be successful. Inbound marketing works better than traditional marketing, because your clients hate be treated like 'Joe Customer'. They love be treated with respect, generosity and listening. And quite frankly, they love it when you make it all about them!

If you really want to succeed as a coach, use marketing that reflects your own values. For most coaches, that's going to be inbound marketing. I've put together a page for you of some of my favorite inbound marketing tools. Enjoy them all for free!

Inbound Marketing for Coaches

 

Visit the Inbound Marketing Hub here.

Topics: coaching business, coaching clients, Free, Business Coaches, Life Coaches, coach marketing, business

Should a Recent College Grad Get a Job or Become a Coach?

Posted by Julia Stewart

colleges grads

Can new college grads find work this year, or should they just go home and live with Mom & Dad?

With the unemployment rate still hovering near 10%, new college graduates are having an awful time finding jobs this year. Transitioning from college to adult life is tough enough even when the economy is good. There's getting the job, learning to budget, pay the school loans and still buy the stuff you need, all while navigating your social and love life. That's overwhelming, right there.

But this year? For millions it's easier to just delay the whole process and move back in with the parents. Or maybe apply for graduate school and hope things get better in two more years.

Things are so bad, one frustrated NYC mother started her own website called, Get My Kid Off My Couch, with links to resume, blog, social sites, etc., showing off her daughter's skills, because both of them are desperate to get on with their lives and all it will take is just one little job.

Well here's an alternative. If your son or daughter has good communication skills (Check their cell phone bill, if you're not sure), they may want to upgrade what they already have with coaching skills for a couple of reasons.

1. There are still jobs for people who can coach. I just did a search on Indeed.com for 'coach, coaching or coaches' (and I filtered OUT  sports references like tennis, lacrosse, cheer, football, baseball, softball, basketball, etc., etc.). I got back nearly 75,000 available jobs that require coaching skills. Not bad.

2. Coaching can be a lucrative business. Some college grads are skipping the job treadmill all together and just starting their own businesses. Few businesses are as inexpensive to start up as coaching. There's no inventory, no store front, no staff needed, just a computer and a phone. And good coaching skills.

And by the way, that major transition that students go through from high school to college to first job and beyond? That's a huge coaching niche. Who better to coach young people through these major life stages a than those who have just navigated all that, themselves?

However, a very young coach needs coach training to be credible. Happily, new college grads are already good at being students and coach training costs a lot less than graduate school. And it trains them in something they can actually do, too.

Become a coach

For more info on how to become a coach, visit our Become a Coach Hub

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, coach training, become a coach, Coaches, coach, How to

Ten Secrets to Finding Your First Coaching Clients Part 2

Posted by Julia Stewart

Happy coaches

Yesterday I wrote about the first five secrets to filling your coaching business with ease.

I recommend reading Part 1 first, but in a nutshell the first five secrets are: 1. Develop crystal clear goals, 2. Simplify everything, 3. Make sure all stake holders are on the same page, 4. Get the money handled, and 5. Tell everybody what you're up to. Let's get on with the last five:

6. Nix the Negative Nancies. Some people don't see the value of coaching. Worse, some people may not see the value in you. If you're surrounded by people who say things like, 'Why would anybody pay you for that?', they could stop you from succeeding. Seek out people who believe in you. Spend time with those who 'get' why coaching is such an amazing service (That's one of the hidden values of a good coaching school, by the way.). If the Negative Nancies in your life start to shift just by being around your inspired energy, or by you fully communicating what you're up to, great. But if they can't, you need to shield yourself from that doubtful energy. It's okay to simplify your life by not spending so much time with them.

7. Stay in motion - focused motion. Just because you trust the process, doesn't mean you aren't actively creating what you want. In fact, that's exactly what trusting the process does mean! Develop a plan for attracting your full practice. I've seen the Coach 100 process work for hundreds of coaches. You literally give away 100 coaching sessions to 100 different people and in the process, learn to fill your coaching practice. It works.

8. Coach a lot of people for free. Whether you call it Coach 100 or something else, you need to get a lot of experience as quickly as you can. Coaching lots of different people works much better than coaching one person 100 times. Be adventurous. Offer to coach that person you chatted with at Starbucks. Ask your friends to refer their friends to you. Share your big goal with people and they will want to help you, just like people help all those reality show contestants that you may watch. Everybody loves to get on board with an exciting big goal. Yours included.

9. Learn to notice when somebody wants to work with you. This is such an important skill! New coaches leave money on the table all the time, because they don't notice when someone is interested in working with them. Most clients need to be invited. You need to notice when someone wants to be invited to be your client.

10. Get your own coach. As a coach, you know tips are helpful, but customized conversations are transformative. What's more, a coach with integrity who doesn't have a coach, is likely to feel like a fraud. A good mentor coach will more than pay you back many times by helping you be more successful faster.

If you're a new coach, what are your challenges in building your business? Is the info in any of the tips above helpful?

If you're a veteran coach (or at least have your first client), please share what worked best for you, in the comments section below.

Coach 100I'm probably biased, but the Coach 100 Business Success program is a great value and it really works. Check out Coach 100 here.

Topics: coaching business, Coach 100, coaching clients, Coaching 100, coaching skills

Ten Secrets to Finding Your First Coaching Clients Part 1

Posted by Julia Stewart

 coach chasing client A major right of passage for any professional coach is getting your very first paid coaching client.

Some coaches feel a little anxious until they get their first client, especially if it doesn't happen quickly. But it doesn't have to be that way. My first client volunteered to work with me. In so doing, he inspired me to attract several new clients in my first year of coaching by following the following simple rules. It can be this easy for you, too. These principles can help you stop chasing and let your clients find you, instead.

Your 1st steps are really about setting the foundation for your coaching success. It's almost impossible to show up as a great coach if doubt, fear and anxiety are causing you to feel a little desperate. Here are several things you can do to make the whole process easy as silk and still maintain your enthusiasm.

1. Develop crystal clear goals. Both short term and long term goals need to be clarified. And you might be interested to know that according to the Wall Street Journal, the single variable that is most likely to predict how profitable a business will be is how big the original goal was. Just be sure you have a plan and can see how you will fulfill your really big goals. In the meantime, have smaller, doable goals, so you know you're on track. My 1st year goal for my coaching business was to break even each month, so that my coaching income at least equaled what I was paying for coach training and for my mentor coach. I achieved it. My 2nd year goal was to pay myself back for everything I had invested upfront in my coaching business, so I could make a genuine profit. I achieved that too. By the beginning of my 3rd year, I had a full coaching practice and what I was earning was virtually all profit. Sane goals like these will keep you on track while you're creating the business of your dreams.

2. Simplify everything, including your life and your business. Relationships, jobs, family, volunteer work, etc. can all derail your business plans, if you're not careful. Beware the 'Super Coach' mentality that says you just have to do it all. Nobody can do it all. Since in the beginning, filling your coaching business takes more energy than merely keeping it full, and since early on is when your coach marketing skills are likely at their weakest, plan on putting in lots of hours and energy into your business at least for the first year or two until it's full, with a waiting list, and you have a reliable marketing engine. That may mean learning to say, 'No', a lot more often. Resign from demanding volunteer positions. Explain to the kids that you may miss a soccer game or two. Delegate at work. If coaching is your calling, you owe it to yourself and the world to clear the decks to get your business set up successfully.

3. Make sure all stake holders are on the same page. Speaking of family, friends, etc. Guilt can make building your coaching business more challenging. But your loved ones can also assist you and make it easier. Rather than feel bad that you're not doing as much for everyone else, use your coaching skills to fully communicate what you're really up to. When you share your inspiration and how much this means to you with them, the people who care most about you will whole-heartedly join your team and they may even help you find clients. This is different than trying to convince someone of the value of coaching, by the way. See #6 in tomorrow's post.

4. Get the money handled. When you know you have enough money coming in already, you can afford to trust the process of attracting clients. Starting a business is not like starting a new job. You won't get a paycheck in two weeks. But your time investment will payoff handsomely, if you go the distance. This is a good time to simplify your financial life, along with everything else. Reduce debts by negotiating for lower interest rates. Stop paying for things you aren't using. If you're not confident you have enough money coming in already, consider getting a part-time job. Some of the most successful coaches I've known took service jobs before they became successful. That way, they could focus on what they wanted to create instead of worrying about the money.

5. Tell everybody what you're up to. This is technically known as marketing, a.k.a. telling people how you can help. In your first year of coaching, even if your coaching skills aren't fully honed, yet, share your excitement and inspiration about coaching with pretty much everybody. Don't be attached to getting them to understand coaching the way you do. They probably won't. Do share your energy. That's naturally attractive and even contagious. My first client volunteered to work with me (and paid me) because I shared my excitement with him about what coaching can do. That's all it took! And he continued coaching with me for 7 years. You don't  need to convince people that you can help them. Convincing never works. See below.

Come back tomorrow for the last five secrets of finding your first coaching clients.

Are the first five secrets helpful to you? Do you have secrets of your own to share with other coaches? Please post them in the comments section.

Coach 100 eBook

 

Download the free Coach 100 eBook for more ideas on how to find your first coaching clients.

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, Coach 100, coaching clients, Free, coaching skills

How to Start Blogging for Your Coaching Business

Posted by Julia Stewart

Coach blogger

 

I think blogging was invented for coaches.

Or it may as well have been! Blogs are a natural fit for us partly because we are social creatures and partly because we have a lot to say.

We're naturals at forming meaningful relationships, because we're all about service and listening. That makes us social. And blogs are a highly interactive, highly social form of communication.

We've got a lot to say, perhaps because of all those hours we put in while coaching, asking questions and being silent. We learn quite a lot in the process and sometimes we're bursting to share it! No wonder then that coaches write so much and create thousands of hours of audio that they share freely.

 

And where better to post our philosophical musings, our solutions, and our favorite tools, than on a public blog?

 

Blog effectively and you will attract new clients and like-minded colleagues. A blog is a marvelous place for people to get to know you. But do learn the basics of blogging before you dive in. Otherwise, your blog could be hard labor, instead of a labor of love.

In honor of the Best Coaching Blogs 2010 contest that School of Coaching Mastery is hosting right now, we're releasing a brand-new free ebook on how to get started blogging effectively for your coaching business. Even if you've never blogged before, you could be ready to win in time for Best Coaching Blogs 2011!

Get the FREE eBook below and get started with your own blog right away!

 

How to Blog Effectively for Your Coaching Business free ebook Go here to download your free copy of the 'How to Blog Effectively for Your Coaching Business' ebook

Topics: coaching business, Best Coaching Blogs, blog, blogs, blogging, How to

What is Coaching Success?

Posted by Julia Stewart

Coaching Success Kit You could say that all coaches are in the business of success.

Our clients hire us to help them succeed at big goals, life dreams and personal growth. Good coaches know they transform their client's lives, so it's only natural that every coach wants to feel successful with their own goals and dreams.

Just like our clients, we coaches have our own personal definitions of success.

My definition of success is that I get to be my best self, doing work that I love, that is changing the world for the better. Oh yeah, and I get paid for that! I know I'm succeeding when I'm lit up daily and having fun most of the time.

To reach this level of success, I had to learn and relearn my vision of myself and how the world works. I then had to practice thousands of hours to master this new way of seeing, being, and doing. Along the way, I had to craft a business that would support me while I spread this thing called 'coaching' that seems to change everything.

How do you define coaching success for yourself?

If you could use some help with your definition, I've put together our top 3 most popular ebooks into one free 'Coaching Success Kit':

  • It starts with 'Become a Coach!', an ebook designed to help the new coach get started in this booming industry and it includes 8 hours of recorded coach training, plus a side-by-side comparison of some of the top coach training schools.
  • Next, there's the Coach 100 Business Success ebook, with tools to get you started with one of the most effective processes for filling a coaching practice EVER (while becoming a masterful coach, at the same time).
  • Finally, there's the Seven Secrets of Mastery Certification ebook, with tools and tips on how to inspire yourself and achieve an elite coach certification. It includes a quiz that will help you determine, once and for all, whether you even need to get certified. 

If you know how to coach masterfully and you know how to fill your practice with clients, then you have what you need to achieve coaching success, however you define it.

Coach Michael Jay Sullivan left this unsolicited comment about the Coaching Success Kit on Facebook last week:

"It's amazing how transformative for me Julia's free Coaching Stuff in a box has been. Better than some of the paid training I've gotten." 

I love unsolicited testimonials; they are usually the most honest!

Get your Coaching Success Kit

 

Get your free Coaching Success Kit here.

By the way, please tell us how YOU define coaching success, in the 'comments' section, below.

Topics: coaching business, become a coach, Coach 100, coaching success, Facebook, Coach Certification, How to Become a Certified Coach, Become a Masterful Coach, how to become a certified life coach, coach training schools

Best Coaching Blogs 2010 Preview

Posted by Julia Stewart

bloggerLast year's Best Coaching Blogs 2009 was hugely popular.

Over 30,000 visitors read and voted on their favorite blogs and the winners, from all over the world, ranged from big coaching organizations to new coaching students.

We're getting ready to do it again. After reviewing a variety of approaches to help us upgrade security and fairness, we realized we already have eveything we need to run another great contest.

Who can enter Best Coaching Blogs 2010? Any self-described coach who already has a blog. Please don't enter if you aren't at least a coaching student and obviously don't enter this year if you don't already have a blog.

What's the benefit of entering Best Coaching Blogs 2010? Hundreds, if not thousands of new readers, potentially getting picked up by lists of top blogs, connecting with other thought leaders in the coaching world, prizes and bragging rights (including a badge for your site) if you win. Oh yeah, and it's fun!

Right now, we're looking for sponsors to help kick in some prizes in exchange for a little promotion on our site. If you offer a product or service that coaches would be interested in and want to be a contest sponsor, let me know here. (Sorry, contestants can't be sponsors, so you have to choose how you want to play.)

The contest last year ran from May through June, but we'll be accepting entries earlier this year. Watch this blog for upcoming announcements. I recommend you subscribe by email or RSS.

Why do we hold a Best Coaching Blogs Contest every year? Lots of reasons, including:

  • Reading blogs is one of the best free ways to learn about this business.
  • Participating in the blogosphere is a super way to establish yourelf as a thought leader, even if you don't have your own blog.
  • Connecting with bloggers and readers can bring you ideas, opportunities, collaborators and clients.
  • Much, much more. 

Subscribe to the Coaching Blog

Subscribe to the Coaching Blog above right, to keep informed about this exciting coaching contest.

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, Life Coach Blog, Best Coaching Blogs, blog, blogs, blogging, blogosphere, Coaches, coach

The Market for Coaching is WIDE Open

Posted by Julia Stewart

People need coachingI've asked a lot of coaches why they came into this profession and almost all of them say the same thing: I love helping people.

And that's a great thing, because last I checked, there are 6.7 billion people who all need some help.  Less than 1% of those people have their own coaches. (WAY less.) More arriving daily.

So it would be silly for all of us to focus on coaching celebrities and Fortune 500 execs. That market is fairly saturated. And yet, many a new (and veteran) coach targets 'high-end' clients exclusively. Many others try to target the low end, but don't get paid enough.

Sometimes I think coaches make the business of coaching harder for themselves by not using their creativity to design their coaching businesses.

Maybe this is an ego issue? At the zenith of one's career, when one retires from the corporate grind to share one's wisdom with up 'n' comers, it sounds cooler to be coaching sports celebs, politicians and TV stars, than it does say, entry-level employees for  Goodwill Industries. But aren't there even more opportunities to help the less advantaged?

To start a remarkable coaching business, begin with the following question, 'Who needs help?' Then follow up with this question, 'Who will pay for it?'

The following coach-preneur did just that. Now, not only is he helping people, he's making such a difference that he's been honored by the White House. How's that for ego candy? By the way, recent estimates in the Wall Street Journal say 30-50% of low-income Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Sounds like a blue ocean opportunity to me. 

Thanks to Coaching Commons and the Harnisch Foundation for the following 7+min video:

 

 

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, coaching clients, coach, ego, Coaching Commons

The Great Coaching Pyramid and Your Success

Posted by Julia Stewart

Folks say I'm brilliant for coming up with this, but really I'm just observant: The old Marketing Funnel (AKA Product Funnel) doesn't work that well for most coaches unless they flip it over.

marketing funnel The Marketing Funnel sounds so logical that I tried it out as soon as I heard of it, several years ago.

Result? Hardly anybody bought my lower priced products, but because I focused on products instead of one-to-one coaching, I got FEWER clients! Not only that, but the lower-priced products were a lot of work to create and I needed to invest in a virtual assistant and a shopping cart, which weren't cheap. 

Most real coaches that I know have the same experience. I say 'real' because some folks do quite well with this business model, such as successful internet marketers, authors and speakers, who can afford to hire teams of consultants and assistants. They can make this work. Sometimes those people also call themselves coaches.

If you're primarily a coach, without a team or a big budget and especially if you're new to sales and marketing, it's actually much easier to go straight to high-paying coaching clients and skip all the work it takes to fill your funnel.

PYRAMID Because the funnel approach takes so much time, work and money to create, it felt kind of like building the Great Pyramids. Instead of a funnel, which sounds like it will just pull clients to you via gravity or suction or whatever, it's more like pushing bolders up a steep incline for slave wages.

So I flipped the funnel over and turned it into the Great Coaching Pyramid. It's so much more effective for real coaches like me. If you're a real coach and what you want to do is coach, then go straight to the top of the Great Coaching Pyramid and you'll experience success faster.

 

The Great Coaching Pyramid

If you love to coach, fill your coaching practice with one-to-one clients first, add products later, if you want. This way, you're doing what you love and that's really attractive. You don't need a huge investment or team to make it happen. Each client pays you well, so you make a living with 10-20 clients instead of 10,000 to 20,000.

I kept my shopping cart and assistant and some products. Because I found that my one-to-one coaching clients were interested in buying my other products and services, as well.

If you're a real coach, most of your income should come from coaching, right? And you can make a much better income by focusing on coaching, itself.

 

 

Great income pyramid People will hire you without sampling all your products. Why? Because you're a good coach. You get that way by doing a lot of coaching, not by creating websites and products.

Here's a secret: Marketing Funnels are NOT triangular. A great company that teaches about marketing funnels and is honest and upfront about it is Hubspot. They have a team of very smart professional marketers. They're much better at it than you and I. I've seen screen shots of Hubspot's marketing funnel, based on their marketing data. It necks down to almost nothing after the very first level. That means they need to reach tens of thousands of people just to get a few clients.

Here are a few numbers about that: Fantastic marketers are happy to convert 5-10% at each level of their funnel. Not so great marketers are lucky to convert 1-2%. At a 2% conversion rate, you'd have to attract 2.5 Million free customers to get 20 high-paying coaching clients. Or you can build your business with coaching.

 

 

Coach 100 Mentor Group

 

There are a few more spots in the Coach 100 Mentor Group. Join and fill your practice with coaching clients by July.

 

Topics: coaching business, Coaching, make a living as a coach, successful business

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