Are you making the biggest blunder in your coaching business like me?
The Biggest Blunder I made as a coach in my coaching business was:
“I thought I am just a Coach.”
My service, my job, my purpose in my coaching business, was only to coach clients, keep getting better at it. That’s it.
So I started on a learning spree. One after other, I’d join different courses and keep learning more and more to become a better coach.
NLP, Emotional intelligence, Happiness Coaching, Mindfulness practices, Emotional Freedom Technique, Leadership development, Appreciative inquiry, timeline therapy, whatever I could possibly learn, I did.
First two years of my coaching business, most of my days would be spent in learning these new practices to be a good coach and rest on coaching a few clients that I had.
Some of my time would go into blogging and learning how to market and sell my services, though I wouldn’t do much about them to grow my coaching business.
There were no fixed business hours and space, where I’d sit and work on my business with focus, except when I had coaching sessions.
As if I was waiting that clients would come to me because I was a good coach and they’ll know that I could help them. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, at all.
My coaching practice, my business was growing but very slowly, through word of mouth and my blog.
It took me a good deal of time to realise that the only way to become a great coach is by coaching more and more people.
For that I needed to put my focus to grow my coaching business, along with growing as a coach myself.
‘I’d to realise that I am not just a coach. I am now a Business owner.’
Does this sound familiar to you?
Do you also think that you are just a coach?
I was coaching a leadership coach, recently.
I asked him who do you think you are professionally – a coach or a business man?
His answer was same as I used to think – I am a coach, he replied.
What are your business hours? And what do you do in your business hours, I asked him.
He was a bit surprised as he realised he had no concept of business hours at all.
He said, Since I left my job, I have no fixed working hours. I show up on time, with dedication for my coaching sessions, but rest of the times, it’s pretty fluid.
“Some days, I’d be reading coaching books, some times I’d write on social media, some days I’d make some calls, some days, I’d send some emails and proposals.”
That’s how he was operating as a coach. He said that he loved his freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, which wasn’t there in his corporate job.
This is what I asked him – Do you have a business?
He said yes, of course. I have a business.
Then, You are a Business Owner.
Treat your coaching business as you’d treat any other business.
Imagine if you had a Photo studio or a diamond shop, how would you treat your business?
He said, I’d have fixed hours may be 9 am – 5 pm or whatever time I’d choose to keep my studio open, with some lunch and tea breaks. And that’s why I don’t have a business.
I love my freedom, as a coach.
In my coaching business, I had no specific hours at all. Sometimes I’d work at night to write something, and sometimes in the morning, but there are no particular business hours.
So do you aspire to earn professionally from your coaching business? I asked.
Yes, definitely. And I’m not able to do so, right now.
Please know that –
“If You do not have Business hours, you do not have a Business.”
If you are coaching for just a hobby, it’s perfect. You can do that.
But If You want to coach professionally and want to earn a living through that, you’ll need to have a mind shift.
Freedom as a coach means that you decide your business hours, your boss doesn’t decide that for you.
If you don’t like 9-5. No problem. You work 10- 4 or 11-2 or 3-6, whatever works for you
If you don’t like working on Mondays, great you work Tuesday to Friday / Saturday.
You choose your system, your structure, your business hours.
But Know one this – Having structured business hours and what you do in those business hours will determine your success and business growth as a coach.
Are you a coach?
Do you have system and structured hours in your Business?
Yes! Fantastic!
No?
Then feel free to get in touch with me to know about how to setup those business hours and more importantly, what you must do in those business hours to thrive in business.
Email at coachsalonisingh@gmail.com
Wishing you a powerful coaching journey!
Dr. Saloni Singh
Master Coach for Coaches, CEOs, Leaders