5 Tips to Starting a Coaching Business | ICF
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Starting a Coaching Business: 5 Things You Should Know

Posted by Steve Mitten (Canada) | January 23, 2015 | Comments (14)

(But you really need to know to build a successful coaching business.)

Starting your own coaching business can be one of the most exciting and scary times of your life. On the one hand, most new coaches are often ecstatic to have finally found their calling and the possibility of making a difference doing something they love. Yet on the other hand, so many new coaches are anxious, if not downright terrified, about their ability to build a successful business and support themselves through coaching.

If this is you, take heart; you are not alone. There are some 50,000 coaches who have felt the same way as they walked this path ahead of you. Almost every possible way of building a coaching practice has been tried and the potholes and dead ends on this journey are well-known. In an effort to share a bit of the collective wisdom of the many good souls that have come before you, here are five tips that might minimize your suffering and shorten your journey:

Pay Attention to the Business Side

Yes, you do have to learn to master the coaching skills. Fortunately, there are now dozens of wonderful fully ICF accredited coach training programs around the world that will help you do this. And even though the journey through your coach training can be lovely, meaningful, and even intoxicating at times, please do not make the mistake of putting all your time, effort and money into studying only the coaching skills. That is only half of what you need to know to make a good living as a coach. Please do not forget about learning some of the key business and marketing survival skills you will need to make and build a successful practice.

It is a sad fact that there are simply far too many well trained coaches out there struggling to fill their practices. It is not fun. In fact it can be heartbreaking to have finally found something you love to do but find yourself having to get unrelated work because you never learned how to successfully market yourself as a coach.

Every independent coach has to put the time into learning what they need to learn to become self-supporting. As to practical guidelines, I have noticed that even the busiest new coaches that can average at least two hours a week on the business side of their practice – learning skills, finding a niche, networking, giving talks, writing articles and newsletters, giving sample sessions, working social media, creating a website optimized to the keywords their ideal clients type into Google, etc., generally manage to get past the predictable obstacles and build a viable practice. Obviously, the more time you put into learning marketing best practices and actually performing productive marketing activities that fit your personality, the quicker your start-up will be.

Find a Niche

When I talk about having a niche for your coaching practice, I am simply talking about having a focus for your marketing. Having a niche is just about being really clear on who your ideal clients are, so you can know where they hang out, what they care about and how to best talk to them about the changes they want to make, in a language they understand.

Having a niche gets you away from the frustrating and fruitless exercise of trying to describe coaching to people who aren’t interested in it or can’t afford you.

As to the process of finding a niche, remember a good niche has two parts, a “who” and a “what.” The “who” is a specific group of people. The “what” is a logical cluster of challenges those people face and want to resolve.

There are dozens of proven niches in professional coaching, you do not have to reinvent the wheel or feel you have to come up with something no one else has thought of. I have yet to find a good niche where the market is saturated. If you are well-branded and positioned and give your ideal clients good reasons to work with you, you will be able to find enough clients. Look for groups of people you are called to work with, who have challenges they are spending money on now, who are relatively easy to market to (because they belong to the same groups, could be accessed through the same keyword phrases, read the same books, go to the same conferences, frequent the same social media groups, etc.).

When you identify a place you are interested in, go out and interview enough people to confirm what they are struggling with, what they are trying now that is not working, what their payoff is, what the best way to market to them is, that enough of them really are willing to spend money to get the results they want, etc. Once you do a few interviews, you will know enough about any group to know if they are a good fit for you. And if it is a great fit, you will know enough to do very effective marketing.

Focus on Problems and Solutions

One of the biggest mistakes new coaches make is trying to sell coaching. The problem with this is that many potential clients have never tried coaching and if they don’t know what it is, they cannot value the service, and few people purchase what they don’t understand. So rather than trying to sell such an intangible, difficult to describe thing called coaching, look for opportunities to market coaching as a great solution to the big challenges, problems or changes people are struggling with now.

Look for the changes they really care about, the ones they cannot seem to solve on their own. When you know what someone is trying to achieve, understand the payoff they will receive, help them recognize that they are not making the progress they want, it is far easier for them to see coaching as a valuable means of support . And wherever possible give them an experience of coaching, (rather than just a description of it) and make it really easy for them to start with you. (Because once they start coaching and feel the benefits, they will stay with you for a very long time.)

Offer more than one-to-one Coaching

While coaching can add great value and a high return on investment to many clients, the cost of one-to-one coaching remains out of reach for many. If you are well-marketed you will eventually be able to attract as many one-to-one clients as you want. However, you do yourself and the world a favor if you package yourself in other formats that lower the price of working together and dramatically increase the range of people who can work with you. For example, if you offer a small group coaching program you can materially increase the number of people who can afford to work with you.

This is good for you, as it helps you build revenues, and it is good for the world as it increases the number of people that benefit from your coaching. Also, this is actually quite easy to do when you have a niche where many of your clients have similar backgrounds and interests and want coaching on many of the same topics.

It’s a Mental Game

Having seen hundreds of new coaches come into this lovely young profession, I am convinced that the biggest challenge most of them face is mental. Seriously, I do not believe most coaches struggle because there is a lack of knowledge available about the business or marketing side of coaching. These days there are so many books, courses, talks, articles, recordings, videos, workshops, trainings, etc. where any reasonably motivated coach could learn all they need to learn to build a successful business.

The biggest roadblock to most coaches’ ultimate success is their inability to move past the ubiquitous distractions, doubts, limiting thoughts and conditioned behaviours that keep them thinking and feeling that they are not ready or worthy to succeed as a coach.

This of course is quite ironic, in that we coaches are so well trained in helping others past their inner critics. However, our knowledge on this topic simply does not make us immune to the very same challenges our clients face. If you are serious about succeeding as a coach, do not appease your doubt and fears and for heaven’s sake do not put your gremlin in charge of your marketing program.

In summary, the success, freedom and independence you seek in your coaching practice is always just beyond your current comfort zone. Get well trained, put the time into your business building, get the support you need, (if you cannot afford a coach fulltime, set up a coaching circle with some colleagues), manage your stress, (stress makes reactive, distracted, cowards out of us all), and get out there and share your gifts with the world.  Good luck.

Steve Mitten (Canada)

Steve Mitten, CPCC, is an internationally recognized coach who enjoys doing transformational work with individuals, leaders, solopreneurs, and business owners. He is a past president of the ICF Global Board and was named 2007 Canadian Coach of the Year. Steve is also an expert mentor on the marketing of coaching services. He is the author of Marketing Essentials for Coaches, a yogi, and a longtime student of developmental and positive psychology, myth, neuroscience, and the wisdom traditions.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts featured on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the International Coach Federation (ICF). The publication of a guest post on the ICF Blog does not equate to an ICF endorsement or guarantee of the products or services provided by the author.

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Comments (14)

  1. Alessandra Mulliri says:

    Thanks Steve, very good food for thought to me!

  2. Thank you, Steve, for this exceptional article. Well written and concise, this is great advice that new coaches need to succeed.

  3. Excellent. Helpful tips for new and seasoned coaches. Thank you Steve.

  4. As a budding coach, trying to decide which school to use, I came across The Coaching Institute in Melbourne. The reason for choosing this school was because more than 50% of the course is focused on how to build, market and run a business. I can highly recommend them. They truly prepare you to be a great coach, but also to be a great business person.

  5. Karen Wright says:

    Steve – GREAT article. One of the most balanced, honest and straight up I have seen on the reasons why so many coaches struggle. You and I both have seen a lot of great coaches give up because they couldn’t build and sustain business. This should be required reading before anyone signs up for coach training. Thanks for your long-standing service to our profession!
    K.

  6. Renata says:

    Thank you. There is something (Re)freshing In reminding us we,coaches, as our clients, also need to go out of the comfort zone.

  7. Thank you so much for sharing your tips, this article is simply precious for me and for many others like me.

  8. Absolutely agree with everything in Steves article. Knowing my ideal customer group and what challenges they’re working with is key. Also, I get out and about and find networking face to face builds relationships quicker, raises my awareness of the hot topics, and is great for keeping the odd period of loneliness at bay.

  9. Love this Steve! Becoming a coach is only half the battle. There’s an entire other side which is what you speak about in your article. Thanks for sharing!

  10. Matt Starr says:

    I felt like you were writing this specifically for me. I am working it hard to gain the business skills needed to get things flying, and it is moving along, but that is the part of the work that is still somewhat elusive. Your article breaks it down to basics in a way that inspires me, and I will not stop without finding the success I want, for me and for future clients. Thanks for this Steve.

  11. Steve, YOU were the person who got me through that moment of mental fear 3 years ago, in our monthly 1-1 session as part of your marketing program for coaches. I will never forget it, and I have used what I learned from you untold number of times with clients and colleagues ever since. You explained that the fearful voice in my head was simply trying to be sure I had thought of everything possible to stay safe, but it was also strangling my courage and imagination and, therefore, insuring I would not be successful. You taught me to say ‘Thank you for trying to keep me safe, now please go to your corner and keep quiet until I call on you, so that I can create this amazing business that serves the world.’ I can’t thank you enough, and my business is thriving!

  12. Suzanne says:

    All good points Steve. As an entrepreneur raised by an entrepreneur, I know all too well how important it is to have good business skills, but even more important is learning how to market. Selling your coaching wares is the lifeblood of a successful coaching practice. Thank you for this valuable information!

  13. Laurie Armstrong says:

    Great insight, Steve. Thanks for sharing. Any successful entrepreneur and business person needs to have a holistic view of how to run a business, whether a totally independent individual/coach, or one belonging to a small or large organization, understanding all facets of building and growing a business is essential. Thank you!

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