How is your coaching business? Are you where you’d like to be at this point in terms of growth, number of clients and overall profitability? In this video, we’ll talk through 3 steps you can take to improve your likelihood of success with your coaching business and we’ll do that right here on the Catalyst Coaching Institute YouTube Channel before you can remember what a SWOT Analysis stands for! 😊
Is your health and wellness or life coaching business where you’d hoped it would be at this point? Have you been leaning a bit too much on that idea of “hope” and not enough on creating a workable strategy to move forward? If you’re part of the Catalyst Coaching Institute tribe, you’ve likely seen our prior videos here on the Coaching Channel about clarifying your vision, how to price your services and other related topics. In this feature, we’re going to focus on 3 additional steps you can take to improve your odds of success as a health & wellness coach or life coach.
1 – Remember that you’re not a coach – you’re a business owner who offers coaching as a service. Now yes – of course you’re a coach – and a doggone good one. But when you see yourself as a coach first, you will tend to neglect all the elements that lead to a successful business. If you prefer coaching over running a business, that’s completely fine. If you’d enjoy working for someone else as a coach – that’s a great choice too! One isn’t better than the other. The key is to consider which is best for you. However, if you are going to run a coaching business, remember “coaching” is the adjective that describes the noun – the business. Keep that clear in your head and it will also help clarify your ongoing priorities and pursuits.
2 – Speaking of clarity – be clear about your preferred clients. I know this can be a difficult step to take. When we first started US Corporate Wellness back in 2007, I remember joking – but not really joking – about our target audience being companies with checks. We simply needed clients so we could pay our bills and keep our doors open! However, I soon realized that as we narrowed our focus down about what we did well and who we could best serve in this big world, that also allowed us to concentrate how we spent our time, energy and money. Who are your target clients as a coach? Are you focusing on coaching employees through work with an employer? Or would you prefer to have individual clients who work with you privately? If employers, is there a specific industry for which your background or experience makes you even more valuable? If private clients, is there a niche where you would stand out above other coaches? These are important questions to consider. And yes – you may adjust over time. But the more you can zero in your target audience, the more focused you’ll then be in growing your business.
3 – The last one on the docket for today is to ask yourself “how many client sessions is this costing me” before spending any money on your business. It’s easy to invest in all the bells and whistles for your business out of the gate or spend money on marketing because we don’t like that part of the business. But if you first figure out how much you’re taking home per month or per coaching session, then you can simply divide that number into the proposed cost of the purchase you’re considering. It’s amazing how effective this strategy is in putting purchases into perspective really quickly – and often results in “hmmm – maybe that’s not the best purchase right now.” 😊
Thanks for joining us here on the Catalyst Coaching Institute YouTube Coaching Channel. We’ll continue adding tools and resources around the business of coaching so If you’re not yet a subscriber, please consider clicking the subscribe button below to provide easy access to every new video posted here. If you’re a podcast fan, you might also enjoy the Catalyst Health, Wellness & Performance Coaching podcast, available via any podcast outlet – and we did recently do a series of episodes on the business of coaching there too if you’re looking for more.
This is Dr. Bradford Cooper of the Catalyst Coaching Institute signing out. Thanks for joining us and I’ll look forward to speaking with you soon on another feature here on the YouTube Coaching Channel or over at the Catalyst Health, Wellness & Performance coaching podcast.
