I've been hearing more and more stories of individuals closing up shop after years of trying to make it as a coach. For those of you kicking the tires on this field or already in it but out of the "honeymoon phase" you've likely found that enthusiastically telling people you intend to "take them to the next level", "turn their dreams into reality" and "help them to achieve their goals and live with more passion" leaves prospective clients confused about what you actually do and why they should pay good money to hire you. Thinking the answer lies in choosing a niche, you might state, "I work with women", "I work with small businesses", "I work with parents" but still your business fails to thrive. If this has been your plight, please read on...
The sad fact is,most coaches have no idea what they stand for, what makes them distinctive and what is in it for the client to work with them, specifically. Most coaches I speak to are long on enthusiasm and belief in an abundant Universe, and short on good old fashioned business strategy, skill mastery and brand development. Yes, there are many excellent courses out there and even more books and seminars but I see a consistent failure of coaches to implement this information in a way that makes THEIR businesses distinctive.
In the past several years I have seen many folks get starry eyed at the idea of "helping people" while working from home and making wonderful money without having a boss to answer to. With a belief that "I have been coaching my whole life. I just know this is what I am meant to do!", a coach is born. But scratch the surface of these new coaches ever so slightly and you may see there is often no plan, no clear message, sporadic enthusiasm for building the actual business systems to support the coaching and, if the coach has a website, it is often all but indistinguishable from the hundreds of other coaches' sites out there.
It is not uncommon for me to hear, even from coaches years into the field, "My gosh, after just 20 minutes of talking to me, you are able to explain my business better than I can and you don't even know my niche!" I don't know about you, but I find that disturbing and I am convinced this is the key reason many coaches fail. Your clients simply can't figure out who you are and what true benefit hiring you will bring to their lives and they aren't going to spend too much energy trying to figure it out.
What disturbs me even more are coaches who get desperate and jaded and actually resent people who don't hire them after they deliver what they believe was a fantastic complimentary session. When you start to need the business so badly that every person becomes potential income won or lost and you find yourself on an emotional roller coaster as a result, it is time to back WAY up and reassess why you got in to this in the first place.
If you want to make it as a coach, (really make it),you have to commit to mastery of this field. It isn't enough to want to coach, you really do have to learn about business, and web design, and brand development, and continually cultivating your skills so that you will give your clients excellent value. This is a complex field and not everyone is up to the challenge of being an independent business owner.
Key distinction: There is a difference between coaching and having a coaching business.
Read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber for some wonderful grounding on this topic.
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