Is Your Coaching Business Working For You? The 3 Questions You Need to Ask | By Ellen Ercolini

manMH900442237[1] 325x217We become coaches because we are called to help others. We want to help make the world a better place, and improve the quality of life of those around us. We consider ourselves 'activators of change' and 'values advocates' but hardly ever do we think of ourselves as 'small business owners' when in fact, that's exactly what we are. The moment we hang out our shingle to be paid for coaching services, we're embarking on a journey of entrepreneurship, whether we intended to or not.

But how many of us thought ahead of time and asked ourselves,
"What do I want my coaching business to do for me?"

The 3 Questions You Must Ask Are:

  1. How much do I want to make a month?
  2. How many days a week do I want to work?
    And crucially,
  3. What is the lifestyle that I want as a result of my coaching business?

You must think about these questions (ideally at the start of your coaching career) because inevitably the passion and drive you feel to help others will wear off a bit, finding clients will get increasingly difficult, and you might feel lost and overwhelmed about what to do next. If you know the answers to the above questions, they will guide you during tough or confusing times. They will also provide a lens for you to develop your business around.

For example, if you want to work two days a week and earn $600 a month, this is a very different business development and marketing strategy than someone who wants to work 5 days a week and earn $4000 a month. Knowing the answers to these questions will also help you avoid comparison paralysis when your peers develop businesses that are different than yours.

Knowing what you want your business to do for you is critical to keeping the resonant enthusiasm for your clients and your work.  When you struggle to answer these questions, you fall into overwhelm, confusion and frustration over your business and your coaching.  That comes across in your marketing and in your coaching. No one wants to be coached by someone who is frazzled by their own life!

Once you know what you want your business to do for you, you have a guide for how you develop yourself and decide what to spend your time on. This brings more professionalism to your business, which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for success.

The terminology is almost as important as the planning itself.

The more you treat your work as a business, and avoid the trap of calling it a 'side job' (which only serves to keep it small and thus limited), the more the world around you will respond to the power and potential of your business.

Even if you want to only work one day a week, you want to be in control of that. By having a professional business instead of a 'side gig' or 'part time thing', other people see you as a professional. And people will be more inclined to seek out your services, which you can then decide to sell to them, or not.

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Ellen Ercolini

Contributing Author:

Ellen Ercolini is a Business Development Coach + Decision Making Expert. She currently works with coaches who have big visions and small practices to stand out from the crowd and make more money. Learn more about her and her work at Ellen Ercolini.

Learn more about Ellen & see all their articles here >>

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