Last Thursday I gave a presentation to recent graduates of Coach Training Alliance called Where the Clients Are. I wanted to give new coaches a sure-fire approach to launch a prosperous coaching business, so they can spend less time marketing and more time doing the work they love.

I call this talk “Where the Clients Are” because really, that’s what a coach needs to know the most: where to find the people who will gladly invest in their coaching. Of course the answer is not actually a place, it’s an approach that creates high demand for your coaching. It’s a way of understanding clearly who your most ideal coaching market is and what they want.

Continue reading Where the Coaching Clients Are

What was the single biggest mistake I made as a life coach? That’s easy: It was trying to sell coaching to anyone and everyone. Just thinking about it makes me tired.

I didn’t know any better. The advice of the day was to pick a niche I felt passionate about. No one said anything about whether that was the way to make a good living as a coach. Turns out, it wasn’t.

Two years later, after trying transition coaching and relationship coaching and then women entrepreneurs (too big of a market), I was still scratching my head and scraping by. Then it dawned on me that I was going about this the hard way. The best way was known only by a few coaches then… and strangely, still is. It’s about targeting a viable coaching market – one that’s easy to access, motivated to invest, and small enough that I could stand out in the crowd of coaches and other service providers.

Continue reading My Biggest Mistake as a Life Coach

I know, your mind is on how you’ll get your next coaching client, but that kind of short term thinking will have you running around in circles. If you want to earn a great living from your coaching business, create systems that will bring in a steady stream of prospects who already want what you’re offering. You need a leads list. And the sooner you get to building yours, the better.

The first step is to set up an opt-in for a freebie that your ideal coaching market really wants.

Find out what makes people in your coaching market tick. Then create a give-away product that is highly relevant to their top challenges and most elusive goals. Your freebie should do one or more of these things:

Continue reading The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship – Your Freebie and Opt-in System

Everybody knows that the odds of succeeding in an entrepreneurial business are no better than 1 in 5. But the coaching industry has plenty of undeniable success stories. And the rewards of “staying the course” and going for your dream are worth the risk many times over.

So what will make you one of those success stories? Here is one key factor:

Keep moving forward.

Continue reading Why Coaches Fail – Paralysis Can Kill Your Coaching Business

Recently several coaches have asked me if it’s worthwhile to engage in affiliate relationships. I say yes! And choose your friends wisely.

Continue reading To Be or Not to Be An Affiliate?

If you give free sample coaching sessions, make it worth your while. Use these seven techniques to leverage your time, set yourself up for success, and enroll 100% of your prospects into your coaching business.

Continue reading 7 Ways to Ace Your Sample Coaching Sessions

Facilitating a Mastermind group is easy if you set it up for success from the get go. Before you begin your Mastermind, design in, and then continuously monitor, these five ingredients for a harmonious group:

member commitment,
intentions,
group energy,
connection, and
variety.

Continue reading 5 Ingredients of a Successful Mastermind