If you are like most life coaches, you are a coach because you love to coach! However, key to your success is not only your passion for coaching, but also your willingness and ability to do business.
At first, new life coaches sometimes conceive of a schedule that starts with the number of available work hours, divided by the time potentially spent with each client and that equals the ideal number of clients. Sometimes income projections are then made based on this ideal number of clients.
But, wait. To gain the ideal number of clients, you need to factor in the business activities that will bring you the clients – that requires time. So go back to the schedule and start over by first designating time for business activities. Plan to coach in the remaining hours. Expect to adjust your schedule until you’ve arrived at the balance between business and coaching that works for you.
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The first bit of useful advice I heard on this topic was to set aside a day a week for marketing. Though the specific advice of a day a week is good – the point is to regularly set aside time – whatever works for you. This is where you admit to yourself that marketing needs to be done and you commit to doing it – so you’ve set aside time that you use productively for business activities that will bring you results.
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A second bit of great advice I received early on is to utilize marketing methods that authentically reflect you, your style and your message. Along the same lines is the advice to utilize your passion as fuel for marketing. I can share from my experience my www.lifestoriescoaching.com website*, which was carefully created to reflect my unique passion for coaching. As a result, it attracts clients who are a good match for my coaching style.
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And thirdly, for the business activities you are not passionate about or skilled at – hire experts to do that work. Hire a virtual assistant or accountant or technology expert, for example. If the money you pay for the expert services frees you up to coach and allows you to do other productive business activities you enjoy, then you are leveraging your dollars and time by hiring help.
Often in the coaching world we hear “you may be the best coach in the world, but if you don’t have any clients it doesn’t matter.” How true is that? Administrative work, technology, sales, marketing, etc. are probably not your passion. However, “business” is not optional. Your willingness and ability to do business is what brings you clients.
For help with creating a coaching business, mentor coaching is highly recommended and a significant factor in achieving success. If you are not currently working with a mentor coach, contact me and ask for special rates available through www.christiancoachingresources.com .
Contact Linda Dallaire at 763.780.8508 or linda@lifestoriescoaching.com .
* The Life Stories Coaching website – www.lifestoriescoaching.com – was designed by Tim Hines of www.hinesdesigns.net – a wonderful web designer who is a Christian and was fully committed to developing a site that reflected what I believed God desired for my business.