Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey (Interview Series)

Today I have a very special guest for my Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey.

Emma-Louise is a very successful Life Coach and she always makes me feel more positive whenever I am on her website/facebook pages, she oozes happiness and fun!  If you’re a Coach then she is going to share some thoughts around that, but don’t worry if you’re not she is also sharing some other pearls of wisdom too.   (You need to read about the Trolls!)  So without further ado I hand you over to the lovely Emma-Louise…

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

• I love to help and connect people.
• My 5 favourite qualities about myself (from a fabulous coaching exercise called “Troll Travels – Who am I?” I love that I am curious, passionate, courageous, creative and cheeky!
• I am always having ideas, getting excited about stuff – I have ADD and Anxiety – but I don’t let it define me, even if it sometimes takes over.

What motivated you to pursue the field of Coaching?

• It started with approaching 30 years old, being a successful project manager in the IT world. I spent Sunday nights wallowing in “There must be more to life than this!” I had success and everything I wanted – a great house, boyfriend, 2 cats, a classic car I loved (a 1973 Ford Capri!) and the separates stereo system I had always dreamt of. But I wasn’t happy. I started looking for alternative careers and after about 18 months discovered coaching through a work colleague. Once I started the journey into coaching – a whole new world opened up for me. It was irresistible – literally. I LOVED that I could change the way I looked at things – I had no idea!!! You mean I don’t HAVE to think like that? I was hooked and have not looked back since.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

• Do I have to pick one? My hubbie, my therapist, my business coach. I could list tens of authors whose books I love, but for real-life inspiration, this is it!

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

• On feeling stressed and anxious at 3.30pm on a Thursday afternoon, my business coach asks, “Is anything you’re going to do in the next hour and a half going to materially change your business?” Me, “No” “Then go and enjoy yourself!” I have a habit of keeping on keeping on. But really, pushing ourselves when we’re stressed, tired, anxious – achieves nothing other than making us feel worse.  So, I phoned up a friend, went round and hung out. Came back feeling fab. Next day I was raring to go again.

What three tips would you give to new Coaches?

• (This one is controversial) Charge what you consider to be a BARGAIN for your coaching. I’m not saying charge a pittance – but charge a rate that YOU think is a bargain for whoever is interested in signing up with you. Have a good reason up your sleeve – it’s a new program and I’d like feedback for example. This way, you feel TOTALLY confident selling. If they’re not interested, it really is their loss. Then put your rates up as you feel more confident.
• If you can, keep your old job until you feel confident you have a solid basis for a coaching practice! This takes the stress off you financially – AND – you can use the network where you currently work to actively find clients and spread the word about your coaching business. Bulletin boards at work, brown bag lunches or seminars.
• LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT MARKETING and SELLING! And then keep learning. You cannot run a coaching business successfully without understanding – and CRITICALLY EMBRACING the marketing and sales. Learn to LOVE it, or your coaching business is going to feel like awfully hard work…

What are the three biggest mistakes that new Coaches make?

• Charging too much when starting out (again – controversial). You can always charge more later…
• Not having a way to introduce themselves that is clear and engaging (ie. being embarrassed or unclear when the meet people and are asked to say what they do).
• Not spending enough time marketing. That includes reading, learning about the marketing and sales process AND learning about yourself. Who are you? What do you offer? Why should anyone want to work with you? Get really clear on who you are and what you offer. And learn HOW to offer that effectively!
• Oh – and makes sure the kind of clients you are targeting can afford to pay you. Think about whether the people you want to coach can afford your rates. If not, you may not have the best target market…

What strategies do you know work when it comes to finding new clients?

• Run seminars – basically when you run a workshop or seminar you put yourself in a position as the expert. Run the seminars where your target market hangs out – free if necessary – and then MAKE SURE to ask for their email address for your newsletter. AND their phone number for a free or consultation session with you. Do this with a feedback form – that you tell them about at the beginning – and hand out at the end.  This is how I built my contact list – AND got clients!
• Team up with people who have a similar target market. I networked and teamed up with massage therapists, hairdressers and personal trainers for example! Sometimes we did events togethers, sometimes it was just a referral network.
• Create a program with steps and a fixed cost/time period for people to sign up for.

What’s your favourite Coaching tool/strategy?!

• OK, so I run The Coaching Tools Company.com! I’m not sure I can PICK a favourite!!! I would say The Wheel of Life is endlessly useful in so many ways – the most versatile. I love “Troll Travels – Who Am I?” – which is where I discovered what MY favourite 5 qualities were. So great for confidence and really knowing myself! I also adore “What Makes My Heart Sing?” – I love seeing the light go on for people when they realise that what gives them joy is so easy to do…

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

• Coaching is so NEEDED in the world right now. You are awesome. Go for it! Believe in yourself – because no-one can do this FOR you. And once you believe in yourself, no-one can take that away from you either! Own your power!
• AND Learn to LOVE and ACCEPT yourself the way you are right NOW. Practice it. Love and accept your dark side – and the things you feel ashamed about. Because once you OWN that, no-one can make you feel bad about yourself, ever again.
• The reason the world needs coaching is because we’re not taught in schools to look to ourselves for answers. Instead we’re taught that the answers are outside of ourselves (books, knowledge, the adults around us). And we’re taught that to succeed we must learn stuff and be able to regurgitate it. But to be HAPPY in life, we need to know ourselves – and how to look inside and find our own answers. And THAT’s where coaching comes into its own: We help people get to know themselves, look inside and learn to trust that THEY have the answers! Awesome!

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you..

• Check out The Coaching Tools Company.com if you’re a coach. There are tons of articles and tools – and free tools too, to help you on your coaching journey. Sign up for the newsletter for tips, tools and our 549 Powerful Coaching Questions Ebook!
• And if you’re interested in personal growth, please visit Life Coach on the Go! We have a great weekly bite-sized article – wisdom that takes around 1 minute to read!

Thank you Emma-Louise, I love your Coaching Tools and your blog posts, they are fab!  As you all know I also love quotes so the little freebie that Emma-Louise is giving away to readers is perfect for me – Click here to download your free copy of 107 Quintessential Quotes for Coaches.  Not a Coach, don’t worry, you’ll still love them too!