Early in coaching, I longed for someone who could step me through exactly how to succeed in my coaching business. I was surrounded by offers for more coaching skills and tools. It’s fun to geek-out on that, but that didn’t help me where the rubber meets the road.
Where was the guide who could take me step-by-step on the business side — help me zone in on what works? Online tactics training wasn’t personalized and was missing foundations of business success.
Nine years in, I launched Prosperous Coach because I was then surrounded by new coaches who had no business roadmap either. Step-by-step guidance is one of my zones of genius so I filled that hole with VIP mentoring.
There is a clear difference between the mindsets and actions that help you succeed in your coaching business and those that could end with you quitting and losing all your equity in this career. This episode is about 7 specific tipping points to land on the positive side.
Tipping Point for Coaches #1 – Master Your Mindset
The #1 mindset to help you succeed is actually several mindsets and actions — it’s to take on the role of CEO of your business. Step into those shoes now. That mindset drives smart action.
As the CEO of your business, you are:
- Committed to bringing about your own success. Are you? It’s a good question to ask yourself.
- Operating from your integrity. Episode 141 has 5 questions to check your integrity.
- Driven by your values and vision. If you don’t know yours, take time to identify this.
- Willing to learn lots of new things and make continuous incremental improvements.
- Willing to focus in and limit your choices. This is so important. Episode 225 is all about this.
- Fiscally responsible by tracking your income & expenses while taking actions to improve profits. Are you doing this yet?
You may turn up your nose at the sound of this — you just want to coach, not have these responsibilities. But if you want to earn well from coaching by owning your own coaching business, being the CEO of your business comes with that, so take it on with enthusiasm.
You can do this! You are enough and you will learn everything you need to if you care about your success. I’d love to help you.
How many times in your life have you needed to step into a role you knew nothing about — in a new job or role, as a new parent, care-taking your own parents? In all of them you learned a long the way. It’s okay to not know how. And don’t do this alone.
Tipping Point for Coaches #2 – Get the Right Kind of Support
Isolation, loneliness and lack of personalized support is a key factor in coaching business failure.
Have you been thinking …
“I already spent so much on coach training. I have to earn before I spend anything else.”
But what if waiting to invest in business success postpones earning well at coaching? It does, you know.
Did you know that most business owners invest heavily up front in their business? That’s because they are in it for the long run. You will earn it back. And you deserve to have hand holding to do this all right the first time:
- Choose the best audience and niche for you
- Create a smart business model and customer journey
- Craft content that inspires your ideal clients to hire you
- Price your programs to attract ideal clients
This isn’t just 4 things, it’s dozens of action points and all with steep learning curves. My VIP Mentoring is step-by-step high touch support. If you know it’s time to get expert support, fill out the application at prosperouscoach.com/vip and we’ll talk.
Tipping Point for Coaches #3 – Dedicating Enough Time
If you have a full-time job while you are taking coach training, that’s okay. But if you want to build a coaching business you can count on long term, you’ll need 3 things before you quit your job:
- Enough time to develop your business foundation, attract initial clients and serve them — a minimum of 20 hours per week and more very soon after launching.
- An exit strategy within 6 months of launching.
- And, ideally enough financial reserves to get established without being under abject pressure.
Time is the great delimiter. And the reality is this, few coaches can reach their current job’s income before quitting their current job. This may be hard to hear.
Your new business is like a newborn. So, the difference between succeeding and failing in your coaching business is dedicating enough time to tend that newborn.
Tipping Point for Coaches #4 – Wanting this Enough
You are smart, you love coaching and you love to help people. But are you hungry enough for coaching business success? Check out Episode 102 after this.
I’ve seen this happen many times. A coach pours themselves into all the learning and doing but just doesn’t want success enough to make it happen. This can be about a few things:
- You might have a great job and it’s hard to leave the paycheck so you never transition.
- You might be financially comfortable and don’t really need the income from coaching so that keeps you from making it happen.
- You are super passionate about so many things and your coaching business doesn’t rate among the top priorities.
It’s smart to check in before you start your business or even take coach training. Do you want this badly enough to prioritize your coaching business?
Tipping Point for Coaches #5 – Focusing In
I’ve covered this recently in Episode 235 so I won’t go too far here with this. If you are prone to distraction, you’ll lack strategy and follow through to get your coaching business to the sweet spot of earning well and effortlessly attracting ideal clients.
Tipping Point for Coaches #6 – Charging Enough
Taking an educated guess, I would say that charging too little is the most common reason for coaching business failure and it’s the easiest thing to fix.
I have gathered together 24 episodes for you all in one place that cover different angles of money mindset and the practical wisdom of pricing your coaching services. Check them all out at prosperouscoach.com/money.
Tipping Point for Coaches #7 – Life’s Curveballs
John Lennon said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Isn’t that the truth.
I’ve had VIP clients quit their coaching business due to unexpected pregnancy, family or personal illness, death of a loved one or loss of financing due to losing a job or something else.
When the pandemic hit that postponed many coach’s dreams and derailed some. I was so heartened to see so many coaches get back to their launch afterwards.
You have to do what’s right for you, always, and if that means letting go of this coaching dream forever or for a while, that’s a smart choice.
And my hope is that, barring life changing emergencies, you will stay inspired and make things happen!