I was having the last session with a favorite client the other day.
Last sessions are a bittersweet time for all. Your clients lose an accountability partner and the structure that helps them stay inspired and make things happen. From here on out they’ll have to hold themselves accountable.
You lose their unique presence in your life. You’ve been holding space for their growth and it’s time for closure. You’ve seen them transform and learned so much from this unique human being.
My last calls with coaches are often pick-my-brain sessions. They ask about client management, little business building details and insider tips that will help them avoid pitfalls or shorten learning curves.
The big question on every coach’s mind, that they are often afraid to ask until the last minute, is … how long will it take me to be successful? Is it 3 months, 6 months, 2 years? I’ll share what I told my client with you now.
How Much Time Will It Take?
Are you wondering just how long will it take to be successful in your coaching business? Three months, six month, 2 years?
When my client asked me that, I asked if he wanted a full answer. He did. He really wanted to know what I had to say about it.
“Yes. All of that and more. By three months and before you’ll have slices of success.
After that, if you’re consistent and congruent, leveraging the foundation you’ve created, you’ll have a string of successes that establish you in your business. You’ll become known. That’s a goal!
Success comes moment to moment and it’s important to celebrate those moments like you would the growth of your child. Celebrating the baby steps will condition you to succeed in a bigger way.
Your business is your baby. It’s a living entity that you birthed. It can’t survive without your steadfast commitment to it.
Nurture your baby business every day so you can attract all the positive things – a following, social proof, Discovery Calls, ideal clients and of course the income and profits that come with those.
Work ON your business every day. That’s what a business owner does as opposed to an employee who only has to do the role they are given.”
About at this time my client said something like “Yeah but with a kid don’t they eventually grow up?” And we laughed about that.
“Of course, they do. But it’s not like you stop being a parent. They still need you.
With each phase of development, you learn how to parent differently, right? You adjust. Think about it — kids grow as you grow. You grow as they grow. You calibrate to the new phase.”
We came up with some success principles:
- Notice what works and what doesn’t but not with impatience. Study your business. Study yourself and your mindset. Make small adjustments rather than big sweeping ones.
- Limit your scope and master that rather than going crazy trying everything at once.
You get to figure it out. And you’ll be so proud of yourself with each realization, each threshold you cross, each win. But hopefully you’ll also be good with the mistakes.
My client said: “So there is no magic number?”
Could I have told him it takes about 18 months? I could, but it’s not true for every coach with every target audience. All coaches are different, with different skills and different abilities to stay the course. Some get there fast. Some drop out. It’s up to you.
We added this success principle:
- Just like the state of happiness, the state of success is transitory. Count on that. But also make your own definition of success.
I asked him how he could define success in a way that allows for mistakes and recalibration? We coached around that for a while because it takes a mindset shift to realize that success really is a state of mind.
Watch for the Sweet Spot for You in Your Coaching Business
It took me years to find my sweet spot — I mean the combination of everything that works best for me. I’m there. I love it!
I think it took longer than it needed to because I was so busy thinking everybody else’s way was better than mine. It took some maturity for me to realized I had my own way and to allow that to blossom.
I’m probably on version 8 or 10 of my business after 25 years. I’m not talking about major do-overs here. I’m talking about stretching and innovating, trying and failing, and finding a better way.
This is what every business is like. Whether it’s a solo coach or a big corporation, a boutique business or a mid-sized empire. Every business grows at the pace of its leaders ability to lead and adapt. So then my client told me that he truly gets my podcast episode sign off now — Stay inspired and make things happen. He said: “It’s not stay inspired OR make things happen. I need to do both.” That’s right!
