When I was first considering entering into the coaching profession, I completely got what coaching was all about it, how it could help people, and why people should open up their wallets and pay for it. However, no one else gets that and that is a hard one for coaches to believe. After struggling in my business, despite my mentor's advice I finally got it. People do not buy coaching.
Since I entered into this profession I have morphed into other things, so I am not directly coaching now but I did discover three keys to having a successful coaching practice through experience, following the experts, and trial and error.
Mistake #1: Not Having a Niche Market - Niche market is a terrible word for an entrepreneur, but one that comes up over and over again. I was so resistant to narrowing in on a niche market for months; I just kept skating around it hoping I would be the one to be successful without a clearly defined niche. But guess what, it did not happen. Your niche needs to be clear and specific and needs to be a really defined group of people that when you say it they immediately know who they are. And it is okay if others do not quite get it. I work with ConsciousPrenuers, people either come up to me and say "that's me!" or "What's a ConsciousPreneur?" If they have to ask, more than likely they are not in my niche. A niche is not entrepreneurs, business owners, women, men, or moms. A niche is executive women, stay at home moms, retail business owners. When you are too broad you speak to no one. I know, it is hard to digest, but it is the truth.
Mistake #2 Not Leveraging Your Time - Coaches get into the habit early on of working one on one with their clients, soon they might have a full calendar of coaching clients, but this is not the best use of your time. When you are working one on one you are trading time for dollars. You cannot leverage your time, re purpose it into something else, or increase your income. You are capped at your hourly rate and unfortunately the average coach is earning about $25,000 a year, so we are talking about $12.50 an hour. Working one to many, doing group programs, tele-seminars, or having a product is a very powerful key to a successful coaching practice.
Mistake #3 Selling Coaching - This was a tough one for me, as like I said, I get coaching, I see its value and I think people should pay for it but the general public gets a glazed over look in their eyes when they hear the word coach, some people even as "What do you coach?" referencing a soccer or dance team. While coaching is becoming more and more common, people still do not really understand the value behind it and they do not always know the difference between a coach and counselor; therefore, they start believing that if you need a coach you must have problems. I hear coaches at networking meetings, and this was me too, selling coaching. People hear it, dismiss it, and never think about it again. You have to sell the problems that you solve, not actual coaching. Find out what you solve for your niche market and sell the solution.
Visit my resource rolodex for coaching resources to help you build your successful practice.
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