Is Your Coaching A Hobby Or A Business?

April 8, 2015 by 10 Comments

Is your coaching a hobby or a business?  If you’re not earning money from coaching or taking consistent, systematic steps to bring in paying clients then you just have a hobby.

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Are you at the stage that you’ve done your coaching training and now you’re stuck in a place of fear? Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, maybe even fear of success?  You keep hearing about coaches that don’t make it.

Do you know what the difference is between those that make it and those that don’t?  Action, perseverance, and determination.  Running a coaching business doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time but if you don’t start you’ll never make any progress, so what are you waiting for?

When you first train as a coach making the transition from training to actually charging for coaching can be tough.  You know that through your training you’re able to coach and help people make changes, but you don’t feel confident enough yet to charge as you’re still a newbie.  You’ve seen all of the coaches out there, it seems there’s no room for yet another coach (there is by the way because you’ll bring your own uniqueness)  You’ve heard all of those scary stories about the number of businesses failing (that doesn’t have to include you! Be the minority, be one of those fabulous statistics that makes the cut).

The reality is that it can all feel a bit daunting and scary.

You then get into a place of procrastination with lots of, ‘I’ll start charging when….’

  • I get my website up and running
  • I’ve worked with another 10 pro-bono clients
  • I’ve got my business cards etc. etc.
  • Fill in the blank (……)

It doesn’t have to be this way.  Let me ask you a question – How long do you need to have been coaching in order to believe that you’re ready to start charging properly?

  • Don’t let your lack of website hold you back.  I personally think websites are important to show you’re in business and give you credibility, but I also know loads of coaches that have successful businesses and no website at all. You can start with a one-page website or just a Facebook page.  Start simple and build on from that.
  • Another 10, 20, 30 pro-bono clients?  Start charging now.  You will really notice the difference in the level of commitment you get from clients that pay.  A greater level of commitment = greater change and transformation.  You will also feel more confident and valued as a result of charging for your services
  • You can get business cards made up really quickly and cheaply to kick start your business.  Forget about fancy logos and gorgeous designs (for now), just get something made up so that you can get yourself out there.  The fancy stuff can come later.

These can all just be excuses.  Excuses not to start.  What’s your excuse for not stepping up and making this happen?

If you don’t start you can’t fail?  Well, actually, you’re already failing if you signed up to this coaching malarkey to run your own business and you’re not starting.  I’ll let you in on a little secret – you’ll have lots of failures along the way, lots of ‘I messed that up’ moments but you’ll adapt and tweak until you get the right thing. Running your own business is an enormous learning curve but it brings such an amazing amount of personal growth with it.

Failing

I often get asked how I got started getting my clients.  I ran group coaching sessions in my local area to help me get my name out there. I did it all on a budget, no costs other than printing a few fliers that I designed myself.  By working with a group of people at a time I was able to earn more money per hour than if I’d just done 121 coaching as a newbie.

I was also able to gauge what worked with my coaching and what didn’t.  I could see how the questions were landing and adapt accordingly.  I got to work with lots of different types of people so I very quickly worked out what areas I enjoyed in coaching, and the types of people I enjoyed working with (and vice versa!)  I had something specific to talk about at my networking groups, which took a bit of the heat off me, and I was able to convert my group coaching clients into paying 121 clients.

It was a fantastic way to build a business from scratch and to start earning some decent money.  I’d spent a lot of time, money and energy on training and wanted some return on my investment, and quickly.  I created a way to get in front of my ideal clients, to engage with them and understand what they need/want, all while having fun along the way.

Now I teach other coaches how to run their own coaching sessions, in my Cappuccino Coaching Club.  Some of my club members are running sessions in different towns and on various days to earn more income each month. What could you do to start building an income to give you more confidence in helping you to turn your coaching from a hobby into a business? Imagine how great it would be to hear that little cash register pinging as you start to earn money from something you love doing.

As I said to one of my potential clients recently, “Take action. Don’t just sit there thinking, ‘I’ll start when…’  You could be sitting in the same place as you are now in three months’ time, is that what you want?  Start now!”

What one step could you take right now to get you started on your journey into turning your coaching from a hobby into a business?  Let me know in the comments below and let’s get you on the road to running a business.

Filed Under: Business, Business Startup

Giving Yourself Permission

April 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment

I sometimes talk about giving your clients permission when they need it, as it’s not something we often do.

This week has been completely full on and I’m starting to make silly little mistakes, so I’ve made a decision.  I’ve decided to give myself permission to finish early, write a teeny newsletter and to simply wish you all a very Happy Easter (if you celebrate) and a very happy long weekend if you don’t.  Business can resume as normal again next week!

Until then I give you permission to do whatever it is that you want to do. You obviously don’t need my permission but if you won’t take it yourself then I’m giving it to you.  Stop feeling restrained by people or circumstances (often circumstances we’ve created).  Just give yourself permission to be.

You might give yourself permission to;

  • Eat a cupcake without feeling guilty
  • Not post on social media for the day
  • Down tools, take yourself off to a coffee shop and read your favourite book

What do you need to give yourself permission for?  Have fun working it out and then go and do it!

Give Yourself Permission #inspiration

As a little Eastertreat I’m offering 5 people the opportunity to work with me for 30 focused minutes on one specific business area for just £47.00.  If you are stuck on any one of these areas, niching, pricing or marketing your coaching biz then grab your spot before they go.  Once you’ve booked and I’m ‘back in the office’ on Wednesday I’ll send you over some pre-work to get you thinking and up and running for when we chat.  You’ll leave our session buzzing with a mini action plan ready to move you forward.

Step One: Here’s the link to pay

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Step Two: Here’s the calendar link to book your session.

You need to have booked and paid your session by Easter Monday 8pm GMT.  Once the spaces are gone they’re gone, I just thought this would be a better treat than chocolate (ok, so not better, but this treat will at least help you in your business more than chocolate would!)

Filed Under: Letting Go, Permission

When Niching Isn’t The Right Thing To Do

March 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment

A while back I wrote about niching and how it makes everything that you do in your business so much clearer but I wanted to share with when niching isn’t the right thing to do.

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Niching is essentially a way of setting you apart from the rest, it’s a way to stand out from the noisy crowd, a way for people to know quickly what it is that you do and understand why they might want to work with you.

I’ve worked with clients who think they have their niche sorted, but there has been some hesitation.  In exploring this hesitation further it often turns out that the niche actually isn’t their passion after all.  It’s something they are interested in, but it’s not going to be the passion that gets them out of the bed in the morning.  If you’ve got a gut feeling that the niche isn’t right then explore it further, don’t just go all out on it if it doesn’t seem to be the right fit.

The problem is that there is a fine line between the fear of niching (worry about making your business so narrow you won’t attract clients – not true by the way) and whether the niche you’re choosing is right for you, so it takes a bit of digging to get to the bottom of it all.  You could be procrastinating but equally there could be some messages in there that are actually really important.  When you first start out as a coach what often happens is you don’t know who you want to work with, you want to test the waters and try things out, you want to see how things work out with various individuals and across lots of different scenarios/issues.

I’m sure you’ll have heard that niching is one of THE things you need to do in your business.  You can read the story of my agony of niching here.  I know I didn’t want to admit it, but the fact is that getting really clear on who you’re marketing to is vital.  You need to know who you are, who you work with and what you offer in order to get in front of the right clients that want to buy from you.

If you’re in that place of indecision here’s a few questions you could ask yourself;

  • Why do you want to work in this particular niche? (Do the exercise for both possible niche ideas)
  • Why is that important to you?
  • When thinking about niching in that niche what comes up for you? (you might notice a tightness in your stomach, or some tension, excitement, fear it’s not enough, scared it won’t keep your interested)
  • What can you learn from that feeling/experience?

Keep digging further with more ‘why’ questions.  The more you understand why it’s important to you to work in that area the more clarity will come.

Another thing that can help is to make your niche just a little wider, so let’s say you have a handful of things that are in the same field of work that you want to do but you aren’t completely sure just yet which one is the one for you.  If this is you then consider what they are and how they might be linked together under an umbrella category or group.  That way as you work in those areas you can start to build a better understanding of the areas you enjoy and then over time narrow your niche down and become an expert in your field.

It can be a tough exercise to do on your own so work with a friend, family member or coach to help you get really clear on it.

It’s better to spend some time figuring it out for sure than go off in the wrong direction and waste lots of time, energy and money in the wrong field. Do not let niching be the thing that holds you back but equally get to a decision as quickly as you can so that you can then focus on bringing in paying clients.

On that note I’m running a live training event in May called Finding Paying Clients where we will be doing some ideal client work, plus I’ll be teaching you some of my processes, hints, tips and nuggets to find paying clients.  Check it out, I would LOVE to meet you in person!

CR Live Event

Filed Under: Business, Niching Tagged With: ,

7 Things To Try When You’ve Got Writer’s Block

March 17, 2015 by 10 Comments

Help, I’ve got writers’ block!  Usually, I have a million and one things to say but I have so much going on right now that my little ole brain has gone to sleep without me!  Not a good time really either, seeing as I’m writing the first draft of my co-authored book this week with a looming deadline!

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So what can you do when you are just staring at a blank screen or sheet of paper? Here are 7 things to try when you’ve got writer’s block.

1. Phone a friend – maybe literally but I ask my close friends if they can inspire me.  In fact, I did this just last night.  I’m part of a mastermind group that I created with an amazing group of business friends.  Each day we support each other, whether it’s something we need help with brainstorming, inspiration, somewhere to talk about how we feel or in this case somewhere to go when you have no idea what to write!  (ps – We’re also putting together a fabulous free Telesummit in May – more on that soon!)

2. Do something completely different.  My friend, Rebekah Harriman, reminded me last night about taking a complete break from what you’re doing and to go and do something else.  She actually suggested I do some hula hooping!  Apparently it works wonders!  I attended a Neuroscience for Coaches webinar recently and it was fascinating how they can now prove the connections between lots of the things we do in coaching and why they are effective. In this case the brain needs ‘restful activity’, so it’s engaged in something that’s not related to what we’re trying to solve/figure out.  Going for a walk, reading a book, taking a shower etc.  All of these things allow our brains the restful activity we need and when you think about it that’s when we often come up with our most creative ideas.

3. Create/use swipe files – Have you heard of a swipe file?  It’s what graphic designers, creatives et al use to save images/content etc.  Emma Heasman wrote a good article about it a while back.  I use all sorts of things as my own ‘swipe files’. Some of these might be useful to you too, so I’ll share;

  • A notebook – Write it down! Carry a little notebook around with you in case inspiration strikes.  It’s amazing how quick your muse disappears.  Capture that amazing idea as soon as you can!  I love having my little notebook – I get to pretend to be a super creative person, kinda artsy!
  • Pinterest – I got a message the other day saying, ‘I didn’t know you were Queen of Pinterest‘!  I am just a teeny bit in love with it, as you can see if you view my pins and boards.  It’s a great place to collate ideas and links to websites etc (and in an organised way, which as a Virgo is super important to me!)
  • Pocket – I love the Pocket App – Like Pinterest you can save lots of links to blog posts and it’s easy to search – Not sure why I use both but hey, it works for me!
  • Evernote – fabulous little app for capturing snippets of info and completely searchable.  You know those little links or quotes that you don’t want to lose, but know if you write them down it will take forever to find again?  That’s where Evernote comes in.
  • Data Bank – I have a folder on my computer for magazine articles, scanned cuttings from Psychologies, People Management, that kind of thing, divided into subfolders (see Pinterest bullet point about Virgo!) and then when I’m stuck I can read a quick article and get inspiration

4. Read blog posts/books – both related and unrelated to what you do.  It’s always great to learn new things.  Don’t always think blog posts have to be about your area, often there are links (ok sometimes tenuous links in my blog posts!) that you can make to lead into your subject.  As I read books now I’ve started to take notes in a pretty little book, it helps me retain information and gives me ideas for later posts.  Plus the added bonus is I will soon have lots of info for book reviews too – aka another blog post!

5. Brainstorm – write down headers for everything you know about your field of work and see what comes up.  You’ll be amazed at how much you know about your area when you start pulling together a big list and getting some ideas down on paper.

6. Rehash/repurpose content – remember that blog post you wrote a while back about confidence or something related to your coaching?  Write something else on the same subject, just write it from a different perspective, do a bit more research around it and beef it up.

7. Change your location – sometimes you need a change of scenery to get those creative juices flowing.  Move into another room, work in the garden (weather permitting!), go to the local cafe (my personal favourite!)

So in today’s post I’ve shared with you some hints and tips to get your mojo (motivation) going again.  I hope it’s helped you.  It’s definitely helped me to get my post written!

I’d love to hear what you do when your brain doesn’t want to play and you’re on a deadline.  Let me know in the comments below. I’m looking forward to learning lots of new ways to move away from writers’ block, especially this week!!!

ps – Did you grab a copy of my Marketing Mind Map? It’s a useful little mind map to help you generate a few marketing ideas that you can try out straight away in your business.  Grab your copy by filling in the form below.  You’ll also be added to my weekly newsletter list but can unsubscribe at any time.

Filed Under: Blogging, Resources, Writing Tagged With: , ,

One Mistake Coaches Make With Marketing

March 10, 2015 by 4 Comments

I keep seeing my clients make the same mistakes over and over again that’s costing them time, money and energy in their businesses.  I listen to them telling me how they seem to be doing all of the right things but aren’t getting people to buy their packages or sign up to their events and I know how they feel.  I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

#1 Mistake Mktg

The one mistake coaches make with marketing is simple;

Not doing enough of it!

Ok, so there’s a bit more to it but let me share with you a short video of some of my thoughts around it.

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In the video I talk about my freebie mini ebook, 7 Things They Didn’t Tell You At Coaching School, where I explain that marketing can take up around 50% or more of the time you spend running your coaching business.  That includes things like networking both on and offline, writing blog posts, social media, newsletters etc.  Make that time count so that you start to bring more of your ideal clients your way.  It doesn’t have to be sleasy, but you do need to keep being consistent with it.  Do a little bit of marketing every single day, mix it up and try new things. Test what works and what doesn’t and keep plugging away.  When you think you’ve done enough do double!

Leave a comment for me below about some of the marketing strategies you’ve tried so far and then pop your details in the form to get a copy of my marketing mind map.  Here’s what one of my Coaching Rocks Bootcamp members said about it;

“It’s wicked! I didn’t realise there were so many ways to market a business.”

Until Next Time Blog Image No Logo

Filed Under: Business, Coaching, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

My Top Tips For Creating A Simple Life

March 3, 2015 by 1 Comment

Hi there

I posted a note on Facebook the other day about my word of the year for 2015.  I set my word of Simplicity at the beginning of this year. By simplifying things, I have had more time with my family, more time to read, more time to create and more time to think about what direction I want my business to go in.

One of my readers said she’d love to know what’s worked so far, so I said I’d share in a blog post.  Be warned, it’s a long post despite it being about simplicity!

I’m still a work in progress, but I thought it might be helpful to share what’s worked for me so far.  Here are my top tips for creating a simple life.

Simplicity #simplicity #goal #coaching

#1 Tip – Set clear boundaries

I’m a workaholic and one area I have to work on constantly is boundaries.  Boundaries with others, but also more importantly (and harder to do) boundaries with myself.  I knew that I wanted to take Fridays off, but it was only me that could enforce that to happen.  Nobody else was going to stop me from working so I had to literally schedule fun things in my diary to do so that I wouldn’t work.  It’s interesting because, if you’ve worked on boundaries yourself you’ll know that the very setting of boundaries seems to bring up lots of challenges.  All of a sudden clients wanted to work with me on Fridays, people were inviting me to Friday networking events and I had the thought of, ‘Oh well, just this Friday, next Friday I’ll take the day off’.

I knew that I had to make the decision to make Fridays my day off.  Has my business suffered as a result?  Not at all.  If anything I’m much more focused in the week so working less hours, but smarter in those hours that I am working.

When I explained to a lady that was inviting me to a networking event that Fridays were my days off she said that networking over coffee wasn’t work.  Well, in some ways she’s right, however, I know me and the event itself would have triggered me back into work mode which was what I was trying to avoid.  It’s really important to know what you’re like, and how things affect you.

So what about the clients?  Well, I have the thought process that my ideal clients will work with me, and I will attract the right clients that will work with me at the right time.  I am running my own business so I get to choose when/how I work – how liberating is that?!

It wasn’t just about Fridays though.  I was also starting to work every evening and really long hours, so I sat down with my family to chat through what would work best with them.  There will be times when I need to work in the evenings and that’s fine, but we all agreed that it should be the exception rather than the norm and that Fridays to Sundays should be Ruby and family time.  I know it’s sad, but I have to literally book ‘Ruby Time’ in my diary to remind myself that I don’t work Fridays and it’s paying off.

I run online membership groups so I don’t want to be completely unavailable to my clients over the weekend, but equally I don’t want it to eat into my family time so I have set up a reminder to check in on my clubs and then for my Bootcamp I run a Power Hour* every Sunday night, this enables me to check in with them and for me to prioritise my week ahead too.  Win:win.  My clients know that if they need me over the weekend they can ‘tag’ me in Facebook and I will get back to them as soon as I can but that I will only be popping in.  Stepping back from social media at the weekends has been a real challenge.  I have to literally move my phone out of view so that I don’t get sucked back in again!

#2 Tip – An overall task list plus MIT’s

In order to get clarity, I have to get ‘out of my head’ and think on paper.  I now use an idea from Bullet Journal where you have an overall task list for the month.  I write absolutely everything down on this list and then figure out some dates of when they need to be done by.   After that each night I choose my top 3 tasks (MIT’s – Most Important Tasks**) for the following day.  Once I’ve achieved those the next day then I list the next 3 and so on.  That way I’m not feeling overwhelmed, I’m focusing on the most important things and it feels fabulous being productive and achieving things.

I also use Trello to organise my weekly tasks so I list all of my recurring tasks in there, such as follow up with clients, social media scheduling etc.  (I learnt recently that Trello is a great way to apply the Kanban Method – a way to be productive)

#3 Tip – Reflect and adapt

At the end of each day, I spend some time reflecting.  I was writing a journal, but I wanted something really quick and easy to use for this so chose Grid Diary.  It gives you the chance to tailor questions around your day.  I’ve included things like gratitude, self-care, books that I want to read etc.  This gives me a quick snapshot of what’s working for me, where I’ve not made time for my friends, family or even myself and what I might want to do differently the next day.  If you don’t like techie stuff there’s no reason why you can’t just create a list of questions that work for you. Some of mine are;

  • What 3 things are you grateful for today?
  • What 3 things do you want to focus on tomorrow?
  • Did you spend enough time with your family/friends today?
  • What book did you read?  If you didn’t read what creative thing did you do?

I really wanted to read more, yet each day would go by and nothing would be read.  With this little reminder, I now make sure I read something every single day.  Sometimes I get time to read whole chapters, sometimes just a couple of pages but I’m slowly starting to eat into that enormous reading list I’ve had on the go!  I’ve started learning more about speed reading and installed Spreeder on my Chrome toolbar so that I can build my reading speed.  Spreeder allows you to build your reading speed on websites you’re reading by showing you one word at a time (or more if you choose to set it as groups of words).  I also read a really interesting article the other day about whether you actually really need to read a whole book or not.

#4 Tip – Make time to play!

Screenshot 2015-03-02 21.10.39I realised that I’m also really creative – I like to make cards, doodle, crochet and I’m just getting into mixed media journalling.  If you want to know what I like check out my Pinterest board.  By throwing everything into my business I was losing a big part of who I am.  When I create I clear my mind and lose myself in the moment, which is such an important thing to do when you’re running your own business.  We all know that taking time away from the usual routine of day to day life is when ideas come up.  You might be washing your teeth, taking a shower, walking the dog or any other number of tasks.  Neuroscience has now proven that there are certain parts of your brain that are activated when you allow your mind to stop focusing on tasks. There is a ‘default’ network that fires up when you are not focused on a task.  The brain is still active but it’s a restful activity.  The default network kicks in when you’re day dreaming, being silent, meditating and visualising.

Making time to play has really helped me.  Some of it is part of my Friday ‘Ruby Time’, and some is a case of consciously making time to create at the weekends/evenings.  I’m actually making progress on a huge crochet granny square blanket I’m making.  I’ve made nearly half of the 290 flower squares I need to make!

In today’s post I’ve shared some of the things I’ve worked on so far to bring simplicity into my life;

  1. Set clear boundaries (and stick to them!)
  2. Create an overall task list plus sort out your priorities (top 3 MIT’s)
  3. Reflect and adapt
  4. Make time to play (the key bit there is to make the time!)

As I said a work in progress.  By reflecting and tweaking though life is becoming much more simple and better still, more enjoyable as all aspects of me are being fulfilled.

If you chose a word, what was it and how is it going for you so far?  What do you need to change to make life more fulfilling for you?  Leave a note in the comments below to let me know.

*Power Hour – used with permission from Louise Presley Turner in her group coaching programme, Relaunch Your Life.

** MIT’s – Top 3 Most Important Tasks – Leonie Dawson.

Filed Under: Self Care, Simplicity, Work-Life Balance Tagged With: , ,

Entrepreneurs – Anyone Can Do It!

February 24, 2015 by 2 Comments

Today I have something a bit different for you – A Book Review for Entrepreneurs – Anyone Can Do It – Building Coffee Republic from our kitchen table by Sahar & Bobby Hashemi

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Now you all know I love my caffeine and I also love being in business so what better combination than a book that is about both!

Let me introduce you to Dawn Campbell.  I was fortunate enough to be mentored by Dawn Campbell when undergoing my training with Noble Manhattan.  She taught me a LOT!  She is extremely knowledgeable in her field, very challenging and encouraging as a mentor (which I like – she calls a spade a spade) and she helped me see the potential that you can have as a coach if you just keep going, keep practicing and keep learning.  I think one of the biggest takeaways I got from Dawn was that coaching isn’t just about knowing about coaching.  It’s about learning all sorts of different things so that you can become a well-rounded coach, knowing enough to be able to understand more about your clients and what their challenges might be, without giving advice.

Anyway, I will pass you over to Dawn now to share her book review and will be interviewing her in a future post as part of my ‘Be My Guest’ Series soon, so you can learn more about her then.

57 real-life laws on entrepreneurship

A really enjoyable read and probably a must read for anyone setting up within the service industry.   The authors take us on a journey; a journey that is written in the form of a diary. It details every action and meticulous thought process of exactly how they achieved their dream of delivering a quality product that coffee lovers appreciate.

They share exactly what was involved from moving from point A – giving up well-paid jobs and taking massive risks to point B – creating and selling the best coffee chain in Britain.

Whilst not everyone reading this will have the same lofty ambitions, it’s a fascinating read nonetheless. Consequently, some of the finer details such as ‘raising funds’ may not need to be absorbed. If you strip that out and some of the many diary pages, it’s a fairly quick and entertaining read.

The book starts with what it takes to become an entrepreneur; turning ideas into reality; writing that all important business plan; raising funds; the nail-biting implementation stage and then making your mark by building the brand. Finally, growing, selling and moving on.

It all starts with what’s the big ‘idea’, without which, it’s difficult to become a successful entrepreneur. They explore in some detail the characteristics of an entrepreneur and come to the conclusion, anyone can be one; if they have a dream they feel passionately enough about to pursue. It’s passion that makes entrepreneurs behave the way they do.

The rest is a process anyone can learn. The tools of the trade include commitment, willingness, dedication, determination, persistence, creativity and being able to stay the course when the going gets tough which it will. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, it’s a lifestyle choice and I’d agree with that. Not least because ‘the failure rate is 99%’ and wanting to get rich isn’t a good enough reason to start a business, again, it comes back to the passion.

Once the idea (light bulb moment) appears, and it doesn’t have be a new idea, just something that can be delivered differently / better, it will gain momentum and drive you forward. You need to be certain from a customer’s perspective that it’s an idea that is filling a gap in the market and solving their issue rather than simply being something you want / believe in.

Their advice at this stage is to jump right in and ‘get started’ with market research to back up your gut feeling for your idea to the point you’ve become a ‘Zulu expert’. Also to learn from your competitors everything you can which can only better prepare you for the challenges ahead.

Throughout the book, there are plenty of exercises to do which will take you every step of the way, like how to do really thorough market research; how to find the right name your company; how to brand your idea; how to do gorilla marketing; how to write a winning business plan and how the quality of your implementation determines your success.

Additionally, the importance of keeping control of the situation including remembering to care of yourself during this busy time is key to your branding. Especially if seeking outside financial support. Sourcing and looking after your staff, selecting the right suppliers and being aware of and noticing market changes to avoid being unnecessarily vulnerable. Finally, what to do with the business when you realise you’ve outgrown the market and or need the business to evolve.  As you probably know, they sold theirs on and are now millionaires and motivational public speakers.  Dawn

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For more of my health and or business book reviews contact

Dawn Campbell
Business & Personal Coach CECI, MNMC, AMC
Master Coach, Mentor, Holistic Practitioner, Author, Editor

Trail Experiences – http://www.walkasyoutalk.com

Personal & Business books – http://dialaguru.eu

http://holisticwholeness.com/radio-shows

Thanks Dawn for the great book review.  I know that I actually have this one on my book shelf so will dust it off and give it another read through!

In continuing the theme of books Dawn recently asked me to co-author a Dial-a-Guru book as part of a series of books so if you’re a budding author or just want to get writing but don’t know where to start then have a chat with Dawn.  I’m going to be writing all about being fabulous in business and life – no surprise there then!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Be My Guest – Health & Wellbeing

February 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Hi there.  One of the things I do when I first start working with clients is to focus in on self-care.  It’s so important to be in good health when you’re working with your clients and if you’re burning yourself out then you’re not going to be giving the best of yourself to others.  Healthy eating is just one aspect of self-care.

For today’s Be My Guest – Health & Wellbeing post I’d like to introduce you to Susan Davies of Thrive Magazine.

BMG Susan Davies

A self-confessed foodie with a background in design and marketing. After becoming ill with stomach condition Sue turned to her diet and healed herself through food. She’s now retrained in Holistic Nutrition and runs a Design & publishing company called Thrive Publishing. Thrive helps to promote natural, ethical and healthy brands and products. Read her story here…

She also publishes her own Health & Nutrition magazine called Thrive. A quarterly magazine that shares the latest news and features about all things healthy and natural…www.thrivepublishing.co.uk

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

A self-confessed foodie and health guru out to help people find more natural food and products. I love local. I love community and want every wonderful human on this planet to ‘Thrive’.

Sue DaviesWhat made you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I gathered so much knowledge and experience in healthy food and healthy natural products that I just had to start sharing it with everyone. I’m on a mission to get the world healthy. So, I started Thrive Magazine.  I also trained in Holistic Nutrition.

Thrive Magazine - Winter2015Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

James Duigan from Bodyism. I listened to an interview with him 6 years ago on London Real and was absolutely amazed how humble he was with the knowledge he has about Health & fitness.

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

Follow your gut on everything.  Align yourself with people who have the knowledge you crave.

What three tips would you give when working on your health?
  • Always listen to what your body is telling you – it really does know more that your mind
  • Look to make small adjustments to start – start using natural ingredients
  • You can have those days where you’re not so good, it’s about getting your own balance
What are the three biggest mistakes that people make when trying to lose weight?
  1. They go on a diet scheme (there’s a few that I can’t stand, but let’s not mention names, you can guess)
  2. One little treat and they think they have failed – it’s about balance
  3. They start eating low-fat options, low calorie drinks etc – these are some of the worst products that you could put inside your body
What if I have no idea where to start with using natural products, what do you suggest?

Small changes are best, so switch to an organic, chemical free shampoo, for instance. I also offer Cleanside reports which help you to eliminate all the nasties in your daily routines, so I identify all of the possible chemicals you may be ingesting through not just your food, but also the hygiene products that you use and then work with you to eliminate these and make healthy, more natural choices.

How much time do I really need to spend on cooking a healthy meal?

Wow, this could be anything from 10 minutes to rustle up a lovely super salad full of nuts, seeds and greens to a few hours to create that perfect dinner. There are so many simple recipes available now. Check out some of our fabulous recipes by our Thrive Magazine writers.

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

www.thrivepublishing.co.uk and also soon to be www.thrive-magazine.co.uk

Thanks Susan for some great hints and tips. You may have noticed I’ve been featuring a few posts now around health and wellbeing.  As coaches, it’s so important to look after your health.  Self-care is vital when running your own business.  How well do you look after your health?

 

Filed Under: Health & Wellbeing, Self Care, Wellbeing Tagged With: , ,

4 Things That Might Be Holding You Back In Your Coaching Biz

February 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

If you follow me on Facebook then you’ll know that I’ve been offering free 20 minute Discovery Sessions to help coaches explore where they might be stuck and how I can help.  I’ve been having some great conversations and sharing a few nuggets to take away. It’s interesting how the same areas of ‘stuckness’ come up time and time again. (*Yes, I do know that’s not a real word!)   These are the top 4 things that might be holding you back in your coaching biz too.

Let’s take each one in turn.

1. Knowing where to start to getting your business off the ground

When you have trained as a coach it can be easy to think that it’s all about the coaching but it isn’t.  (Why is it I want to sing, ‘It’s All About The Bass’ by Meghan Trainor there?!) It’s coaching first and then figuring out where on earth to start with your business.

Which comes first?  The website or the business cards or the social media, or the discovery sessions or, or, or…..  The list goes on and on!   There is a systematic way to doing it – more on that soon.  If you were coaching a client you would get them to take small baby steps to get there, the same applies to you and your business.  One small step at a time.

2. Finding paying clients

It can be hard to get clients at all, never mind the ones that actually want to pay.  One of the biggest reasons for this is we don’t know who we are, what we want to offer and then where those clients are.  There’s a lot more to it than that though.  If we smack of desperation then our potential clients are easily put off.

3. What to niche in or whether to niche at all

“But I can coach anyone!”, I hear you all say.  Yes, I know you can but that doesn’t mean that’s what your marketing message should be.  Niching is simply about knowing who you’re marketing to, what your marketing message is and how you can help. You can choose not to niche, you can choose to have more than one niche, but you need to make sure your messages are clear or people won’t know whether to buy from you or not.

4. Pricing and Packaging

How much is too much?  What’s too little?  I very often hear “I don’t want to overcharge, but equally I don’t want to look cheap either”.  I always say when you’ve done your coaching training you’ve trained as a professional coach.   Don’t just charge £40 for a session, I could get my nails done for that!  Pricing is always going to be a contentious issue, start to think about what value you add.

Now about that systematic way you can do this… I share a blueprint of the steps I followed to build my business in my Coaching Rocks Bootcamp programme.  If you follow the blueprint you’ll have built some great foundations for your business.

I hope this post has helped you realise that you’re not on  your own in the challenges you face. Equally you don’t have to do this alone, let me help you with all of these areas and more.  I’ve been making some changes to my Coaching Rocks Bootcamp programme and it will now be running as a rolling programme so you can join at any point.  Alternatively, you can also buy standalone modules with access to a Facebook group for support.

Discovery SessionI’ve helped quite a lot of coaches over the past few weeks to figure out what they need to do to start to move forward with their coaching businesses.  Would you like to be one of those people?  Then jump on a free call with me.  What have you got to lose?

 

Filed Under: Business, Finding Paying Clients, Ideal Client, Niching, Pricing Tagged With: , , ,

Eating Frogs Can Build Your Coaching Business

February 3, 2015 by 2 Comments

Last month we read Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy in my Coaching Book Club.  If you haven’t read it then check it out.  It’s definitely worth a read.  Brian Tracy takes you through 21 steps to beat procrastination.  Eating frogs can build your coaching business.

Eat That Frog! #procrastination #coaching

Here’s a fun video about eating frogs.

I talked recently in a post about how procrastination can dent your confidence, but it can also be such a big time stealer and hold you back from making a success of your coaching business.

A lot of my clients know what they need to do but they don’t know where to start, or they’re scared to start in case they don’t do things right.  It’s ok to make mistakes, it’s human. So tell me;

  • What are you procrastinating on with your business?
  • Are you being distracted by lovely web links and funny pics on Facebook?
  • Are you trying to do too many jobs at once and not really knowing where to start?
  • Are you listening to a million and one webinars hoping to find that one magical thing that’s going to bring in new clients?
  • Are you telling yourself you’ll start doing ‘x’ when ‘y’ happens?  ‘X’ might be putting your prices up once ‘Y’ you’ve been coaching for a year, or starting blogging once you’ve written up 20 draft posts.

If you want to run a successful business you have to notice your procrastination and take steps to change it.

Today’s Task

Write your list of things you’re procrastinating about.  Figure out which one is your ‘frog’ and then get cracking.

Discovery_Session.PNG

If you need help figuring out what you need to do to build your coaching business come and have a free 20 minute discovery session with me.  Hey, you could even make it one of your frogs!

 

 

Filed Under: Business, Coaching, Procrastination
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