Interested in starting your own coaching practise? If so, then read on…..
A growing number of my clients come to me for advice on starting a coaching business. I also have a lot of clients that have coaching qualifications and businesses, but little or no clients. This is very common. The first question I ask is:
“So you have made a decision to come to me for support with starting your coaching practice. What specifically do you want your coaching practice to do for you?”
They will then usually go on to talk about additional money, helping people…the usual stuff I would expect. I then ask:
“So you have made a decision to come to me for support with starting your coaching practice. What specifically do you want your coaching practice to do for you?”
Same question? Absolutely. Let’s get specific. If you want to start a coaching practice, what do you want from it?
To help you with this I have included some factors below for you to consider. However, don’t stop at this list. I am sure that there will be other things that are specific to you that you will also want to consider.
- How much money do you want to be able to extract from your business in six months, one year and three years from now?
- How many hours per week are you prepared to invest and when can you invest them?
- How much are you prepared to invest into your business financially?
- Where can you work on your business - will it be a home based business or are you prepared to travel?
- If you have a day job, will this impose any constraints?
Getting answers to these questions up front is critical. I work with so many people who launch straight into creating a coaching business without considering specifically what they want from it and what their constraints are. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that a high percentage of coaching businesses fail due to not considering these basics.
I always tell my clients that a good carpenter measures twice and cuts once. What I mean is that it helps you tremendously if you put some thought and planning into what you want out of your practice and what your constraints are before jumping in head first.
It is an expensive job creating a successful coaching practice. There are the obvious things like training, web site creation, advertising etc, but there is also the amount of time and energy you are going to need to invest. Don’t kid yourself. Every successful business needs a lot of hard work and some smart thinking. It makes sense to have clarity up front to provide you with some solid foundations.
Here are three actions that will help you clarify your thoughts:
1. Answer the five questions I have asked you above. Spend at least five minutes thinking hard about each question. Write the answers down and ask yourself to reflect on them over the next couple of days.
2. Think about what else you want from your coaching practise and write this down.
3. Two days later I would like you to revisit these questions. Review your answers and ask yourself whether you feel they are valid. Challenge yourself. For example, if you say that you are prepared to work ten hours per week on your business ask yourself when you will make the time.
Being honest with the answers to these questions is essential. If you have any concerns they need to be addressed and thought through at this early stage. You may find that it helps to bounce your ideas off a friend or family member. If you know somebody that knows the business then even better!
Remember to consider how other more important areas of your life may impose constraints. For example, when considering the amount of hours you have per week ensure that you considered everything else that you have going on.
In the meantime, if you are not an existing My Life Coach client and wish to book a complementary session to explore this with me you can do so at: http://www.my-life-coach.co.uk/html/life_coaching_my_life_coach_no.html .
I help lots of people create successful practices. Some of them go on to leave their full time job to earn more money through their practice in less hours. You can read a related success story in the Coaching Academy’s Personal Success Magazine. The article can be downloaded here:
http://www.my-life-coach.co.uk/ionlywanttocoachparttime.pdf
Also, if you would like to chat through any concerns or challenges via email feel free to drop me a note at darren@my-life-coach.co.uk . You can send me the results from your actions if you wish and I will provide you with some feedback.
Darren Cockburn
My Life Coach
P.S. If there is somebody that you know who could benefit from my services, I would appreciate it if you could forward my details to them. The high level of referrals I receive helps me keep my coaching rates affordable. Thank you.
darren@my-life-coach.co.uk
www.my-life-coach.co.uk
Skype: my-life-coach
tel: +44 (0)7806 779029
