Many coaches, even those with years of experience, have fears about their coaching business. It is just human nature to have them. Whether it is a fear of failure (the most common one) or a fear of success (yes, there is such a thing!), coaches experience these feelings which can very easily take control and prevent them from achieving great things in their own lives and the lives of their clients.
Fear of failure occurs most often. The first obstacle many coaches have to face is their lack of confidence in themselves. Many of them have no faith in their competence as a coach. If you do not believe in yourself and your skills, how do you expect your clients to trust in you? You don’t have to be the best coach in the world, but you must be great at what you do and be confident in your natural skills and abilities.
Many coaches are constantly studying, going from one training course to another, reading all the books available on coaching, in the hope of becoming the best coach in the world. However, if you do not know how to start a business that works, you can be the best coach in the universe, but nobody will know that and you will end up being bankrupt before you even start.
There are also coaches who have this fear that they will fail if their work is not perfect. Do not fall into the trap of perfectionism. It is essential to provide a very good product or service which gives great value, but if you keep making changes without taking action, you don’t gain anything! Your products, services or sessions may take some time to organise, but if you want everything to be ready before taking on a client, you can panic and end up feeling paralysed before you finish everything.
So deal with things one step at a time. Take simple yet effective steps towards developing your coaching business and you will gain confidence. Focus on what is really important and don’t get lost in the details. And most of all, use your best assets; your skills, your ability, your expertise.
Here are some effective tips to help you set up a flourishing coaching business where you can successfully use your skills:
Decide to target your market. Step forward and define your area of expertise. Stop wasting your time doing general things without any value for your clients. Stop waiting for the market to find you. Make a list of people you already know and tell them what problem you can help them solve.
a) Identify the first 15 people you know well
b) Identify the 5 most influential people you know
c) Identify 5 key locations where you can find your target clientele Gather all your knowledge, techniques and skills in an e-book, or a CD or a case study and send it to all your contacts. Remember to include a letter describing what you do, who you help, how your approach is different from others and how you can work with your clients. Create a workshop or a video session and send it to everyone on your list, including an invitation to your video sessions. At the end of the session, you can explain what you can do to help them achieve their objectives by working with you.
Sometimes, coaches don’t even give it a try, they don’t start anything for fear of failure. Just take a chance; it is better to risk something than not do anything at all. Do you always tend to think “what if”…? If you try, at least you will know where you went wrong and how you can do it better next time. But if you don’t, you’ll always have this thought in your mind “what if I had done that…”
A good approach in coaching is to teach your clients through your personal experience, however, what experience will you have to offer if you don’t do anything because of your fears? Even a bad experience can be a good lesson to learn, and a very good example for your clients; they will know what to do and what not to do on their way to success.
So why be afraid if this is what you like to do, if this is the path you have chosen? You love coaching, you love to help other people, don’t you realise how lucky you are to be able to do what you love and be paid for it? All you need to do is gather all your strengths, all your skills and abilities and start a flourishing business based on those. Train yourself to say what you do exactly, what problem you solve and who you help, as confidently as possible. Confidence and authority give your potential clients all the reasons they need to hire you.
If you want to know more details about how to overcome your fears and how to set up a successful coaching business, please go to my website http://coachingandsuccess.com and ask for your free copy of my “Discover Your Magnetic Message” document.