There’s A New Day Dawning At The Coaches Console for New Coaches

The Coaches Console knows that most new coaches have to face similar anxieties and challenges as they build their practice. You know you need help, but the costs may seem overwhelming and coming from every direction. Where should you invest your monies and energy? Who can you turn to for guidance?

Well, our Certified VA Team is ready to help with a NEW Support Group called, The Keys to Success Inner Circle. We will be running a 2-month pilot starting on May 5 for new coaches. You could be part of the pilot if these statements ring true for you.

* You aren’t sure what a VA can do for you and your business
* You know you need a VA but don’t have the funds to pay for a retainer
* You need help with where to begin to find clients for your new practice
* You need to know what systems and standards you should put in place
* You are stuck in this loop of not having clients and no income so you can’t afford a VA to build your practice
* You want to know how to move your practice forward to generate revenue streams for sustainability

Do any of these statements ring true? If so, then Keys to Success Inner Circle Pilot may be the solution for you.

Here’s what you’ll gain from participating in this 2-month pilot:
* peer support for you to learn from new coaches and share your experiences
* advice from a TCC Certified VA on the exact steps you need to take to build your business versus having enough work for the CVA to do
* group rates that allow you to afford reliable and professional CVA support
* rich association within an exclusive community of new coaches
* marketing strategies customized for your coaching practice
* revenue streams that focus on your unique selling position
* exposure to working with a TCC Certified VA and an understanding of how to work within a VA relationship for the future

Why not join us on our Thursday@3 call on April 22. Click here to register. Come and ask questions and decide if we can help you. The call is free, and the opportunity is priceless.

Grow Your Digital Footprint Thursday @ 3

Our next Thursday @ 3 call will be March 4.  We’ve had many calls on the different tools to grow your business. This week Patsy

Stewart, Director of Social Media Marketing and Training for Entwine Inc., will provide steps you can take to use all the tools (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and blogs) you have been using and integrate them into a effective strategy that will impact your digital footprint.

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Pay-It Forward – Coach’s Challenge

Tom and I were watching football the other night and, as men and their remotes will do, at commercial time Tom changed channels to see what else might be on of interest. We stumbled upon the movie “Pay It Forward”.  A wonderful heartening story about a teacher and his class of, I believe, fifth graders and the challenge he gave each of them: Think of a way to change our world and put it into action.

We were at first charmed, and by the end, football went by the wayside and became the commercial filler for the movie.  The story unfolded as the young man, Trevor, decided to do nice things for people, whether he knew them or not and whether they asked for it or not.  He felt in this way he might at least make a difference in the lives of others to the small extent he could and that when they asked what they could do in return for him… he asked each of them to do something unexpectedly nice for 3 others and so on…his system: Pay it Forward…

Trevor’s system did not always work as he had expected or hoped and at times he was down right depressed that it seemed he was not even able to start the ball rolling.  Several of his initial attempts were thwarted either by the person who received the good deed not responding and paying it forward or other times he ran into people’s inability to deal with their own fears in order to take the necessary steps to enjoy the gift he gave.  Trevor’s determination stayed true and he created enough awareness that eventually a reporter interviewed him on TV about his goal for “Pay It Forward”.  He explained that it takes a person that is willing to be strong and sometimes overcome their fears to really make a difference.  Each person has to choose to go out on a bit of a limb, take a risk, but that the rewards were worth the effort.  He also commented that if you never try anything different, then you may be missing the best life has to offer, you will stay in your comfortable and gray world and miss the warmth, connection and Technicolor that could be.

Trevor learned there were no guarantees with his experiment, but he made the conscious decision to continue to try it anyway. His experiment did not fail with me, as I write this article to share with each of you.

Today, I parked in town and bought a $5.00 parking permit.   When I was ready to leave there was an older gentleman struggling to figure out the parking computer.  I handed him my ticket, which was good for another two hours.  He was delighted and asked if he could pay me for it…. I told him to pay it forward… Thanks Trevor!

To me this story is all about abundance and learning to give unconditionally…Giving of the overflow… it has been called… is all about learning the spirit of money and good deeds (which are often substituted for cash) It is in the spirit of money that we begin to attract abundance. In the spirit of money we discover it’s true value and power. The spirit of money is where philanthropy lives. Have you ever wanted to create a foundation to support a great cause?  Learn the spirit of money and you will soon attract an overflow to share as you wish.

Coach’s Challenge:
“Pay It Forward”. Then, if you accept, I challenge each of you to do something nice and unexpected for 3 people, if they ask how to repay you, tell them: “Pay it forward!” I figure if 100 people read this article and just 30 of you take my challenge …then Trevor, and our world, will have won exponentially!

15 Business Building Strategies for Coaches

During The Coaches’ Edge Extravaganza I had the pleasure of spending the day with 100 successful coaches and 18 industry leaders. Part of the day was devoted to small group networking in which we were grouped into 8-10 coaches per group.   Viki Winterton, co-founder of the Extravaganza and founder of The Coach Exchange, assigned each group to share the best business building strategies that had brought them the most success in their coaching business.

I share a few strategies for business building in this video.

Here is the collection of the Top 15 Best Business Building Strategies that were reported by each of the small groups during the Extravaganza.

1. Treat coaching like a business, not just a hobby.
2. Go with what life brings you rather than what you think it is “suppose” to look like.
3. Leverage your time and energy through creating strategic relationships.
4. Know your target market as well as your niche, they are two different things.
5. Integrate social media strategies, especially a Fan Page on Facebook.
6. Create value add products and tools that create additional revenue streams to compliment your primary services.
7. Always remember that you are not alone; you don’t have to do it all. Leverage the tools, people and resources around you to leverage your way to success.
8. Be true to yourself.
9. Create your “A-team” and use the technologies to help you do so; technologies such as e-lance.com; o-desk.com.
10. Networking. networking. networking. – get out of the house and get face-to-face with people every week.
11. Follow your passion, do what you love.
12. Create powerful conversations with prospect groups – workshops, seminars, retreats in which you can speak to many people in your target market at once.
13. Always do values driven work: values-based marketing, values-based promotions, etc.
14. Go for it!
15. Have fun!

Being one of the panel experts that was presenting later in the day on the topic of “Leveraging the Business Success Formula for Massive Success,” I was thrilled with this topic and actually a bit surprised by the results.  I had anticipated that the groups would share specific marketing strategies, specific types of networking groups, various promotions that were successful for them, or even listing the types of marketing that worked for them (print vs. word of mouth vs. public speaking, etc).  I was so thrilled to see that not only did some of the groups report on these types of tangible strategies, but the list included what I would consider to be part of the attitude or mindset of a business owner.  Creating a thriving business is not always about the strategy, the promotion or the event.  While those are vital and crucial, the mindset and attitude of the business owner is what is the fuel behind the success.

The common theme that permeated throughout the coaches and industry experts participating in The Coaches’ Edge Extravaganza was that in order to be successful doing coaching, you must treat it like a business.  This top 15 list gives a coach a hint at what that statement means.

So what have been your best business building ideas?  We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and let us know what has created success in your coaching business.