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.
This life lesson falls into the already very full “if I only knew then what I know now…” bucket.
The day I chose a viable coaching market to serve was the day I became truly committed to my coaching success, not just to the idea of being a coach. That real commitment, as well as the pinpointed focus that came with it, was a huge breakthrough. It felt like the blindfold and hobbles came off. And I realized I could market much less and have a bigger impact. In fact, clients started calling me.
Fast forward to today. The last time I had to convince someone to buy my coaching is now a dim memory. In fact, I haven’t given a sample session in eons. Free coaching? Only as a conscious gift, never as an act of desperation to get a client. I can afford to be very choosy about who I give my time to, since I targeted a market.
As the demand for my coaching grew and my bank account filled, I breathed a sigh of relief – finally,the relief I thought would come to me when I quit my JOB to become a coach.
I’ve gone on to make many other classic mistakes as a life and business coach. Most have been character building and done a beautiful job testing my resolve. But today’s coaches can skip most of those mistakes. There’s just no need to waste all that time and heartache on client attraction methods that don’t work.
With blogging, social networking – all the free, easy ways to create a global buzz – it makes even more sense to target a very specific and narrow market. There’s no need to beat the pavement for every new client – hanging fliers, speaking at the Chamber, endless live networking. That’s what I call selling your wares. I won’t do it anymore.
What about you? Are you ready to do what really works with ease and grace? Ready to do more soul-satisfying coaching, and less selling, by marketing smarter?
