Reason #4: Not Treating Your Practice Like a Business

This series of blogs is designed to help coaches who feel trapped by the part-time coaching glass ceiling.  You may be one of these coaches.  You want a full-time practice but have not found a way to make it happen . . .  yet!

Let’s take a step back to examine the word “practice”.  I find it fascinating how many coaches call their aspiring business a “practice.”  I love the concept of practice.  It is the foundation of any successful pursuit.  Having an FDR approach to life is essential:  Try something, if it fails, try something else, but most of all, try something.

But I believe many coaches use the word “practice” for an unhealthy reason.

These are coaches who feel inferior to therapists and so the therapy and therapist lingo is copied.  Coaches are not therapists and thank goodness for that for we have fewer business practice constraints.

Also, we are not treating anyone.  We are partnering with clients to help build their businesses and their lives according to goals that are designed to increase well-being during and after the goal achievement process.

Although coaches have a robust code of ethics, therapists are shackled by all kinds of insurance and professional rules and regulations, many of which prevent them from advocating their services openly and thereby preventing their practice from flourishing.   Word of mouth if often not nearly enough.

So from a business perspective we are lucky to be coaches.  Let’s exploit our advantages.

If you want to grow your business into a full-time career here are three practices to follow:

1. Create a Brand Bigger than You

Resist the temptation to name your business “<Your Name> Coaching”.  Yes, you are the CEO of your business but the brand must evolve beyond you if you want to create a full-time practice.  If Apple were called Jobs then what happens when the CEO succumbs to cancer?  We are not living in the 20^th century and plus Ford is the exception that proves the rule (few couples have the resources or inclination to produce a brood large enough to create a multi-generational family business).

Once you create the brand name, remember that you represent that brand each and every day.  As coaches we must practice what we preach.  I am not advocating becoming a paragon of perfection, since perfectionism should be a DSM classified disorder in my opinion.  Instead we encourage our clients and ourselves to embark upon a life of bold and healthy experimentation.  Show clients and prospective clients that you live a coaching lifestyle.  Your brand is you and anyone else you bring onboard to help you is also a representation of that brand.

2. Create Partnerships

So many coaches go it alone.  Buck the trend and create a coaching firm like lawyers create a law firm.  Add partners and share the cost if you share a similar vision and program.  You will obtain posh clients who can afford your fees because the business is not about just one person; it is about the value-add of the firm. You will have to manage colorful partner personalities, because all coaches are somewhat kooky, but the potential upside of more and better clients outweighs any perceived loss of control.  Heck, we control so little anyway!

3. Amplify Your Sales Force

Here I am borrowing a concept used by a friend.  Whether you go it alone or form a firm, join a networking group that meets consistently and where the membership requirements are strict and well enforced.  You are unlikely to grow your business just by “exploring” lots of different types of networking opportunities.  You must make a commitment.  Once you join, get laser focused, help the members of that group grow their businesss, and they will help you.  It requires a serious investment of your time but it pays off.  It’s all about the “amplification of your sales force.”

Remember that you and your clients’ success always comes from experimenting with new ideas. How about for the next week we all focus on one of these three business practices.  Let’s practice our business.

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If you have any questions about coaching please feel free to contact me at scott@kineticcoaching.co, and remember I always offer a complimentary 30-45 minute session to prospective clients to determine if we want to work together.