I have never dreamed of becoming a coach – I despised the idea of taking money to help out people, till one day I realized that:
The unpaid advice has no value in people’s eyes
Diary of The Coach – Kate Koronis
So sad that after asking for advice people rarely did what I advised them to do.
- This was really frustrating.
- It felt like a waste of time.
- I felt devalued. It impacted my self-esteem.
- It inspired my action.
I decided to not allow people to use my time without actually applying the advice.
Making them pay for advice felt like this would motivate them to act upon it.
I created my first coaching offer back in 2020 and got 10 clients who paid forward for coaching sessions within the first week. All the following month was booked!
I was inspired! But… I was inspired and excited all the month I was coaching. My students were excited too. That was exactly what they needed. However – No one actually did what I taught.
Waste of time, right? At least I was paid.
Still this outcome brought frustration and I stopped doing coaching for a whole year.
You see:
Coaching without having results to show – is unsustainable business
Diary of The Coach – Kate Koronis
If you can’t show the results of your coaching:
- Who will be willing to invest time and money in your coaching sessions?
- How will you have the courage to sell something that does not help?
Despite all my efforts, it did not work well. Imagine that:
- some students were sleeping during the session and
- one person just talked all 10 sessions about what he wanted to do.
I fell into a trap that, as I found out later, was caused by common misconceptions about the coaching business.
Let’s discuss what are the beliefs out there about coaching that is misleading or not quite true:
People believe that coaching is easy
People believe that coaching is easy. Because of this belief, I have not managed my energy properly.
I allowed to book as many as 5 one-hour back-to-back sessions a day 5 days a week. As a result, I:
- Lost my voice after a month of constant talking
- I found out in my 40s what a haemorrhoid means as a result of intensive sedentary work
- And more (I can talk in more detail about my challenges of planning in another post)
So you can see that coaching is not easy.
For a successful coaching career, you need to have a good time management strategy and life–work balance
Diary of the Coach – Kate Koronis
As you may know by now, I was not able to continue at such a pace after 1,5 months. I had to change something.
Another common misconception is that it is just sharing your knowledge in a specific area.
Coaching is just sharing your knowledge
Sharing your knowledge is not what makes people have results. So if you package your knowledge nicely, create packages and sell it it does not mean people will be able to follow it.
I have purchased some courses myself without ever touching them.
The truth is that Life happens:
- Circumstances,
- Mental state (lack of motivation),
- Lack of skills in time management and learning process…
And many other factors impact the ability of your clients to have results.
It is not only about sharing knowledge.
Coaching is creating the environment where the growth of your client is possible
Diary of The Coach – Kate Koronis
Another misconception is that you can start a coaching business because you have an idea
Anyone can start a coaching business
I do believe that anyone can coach. But it does not work like that: Veni-Vidi-Vici – You came, You saw, You won.
Coaching requires you to build systems for your clients.
The environment we spoke about above is about a proper system being in place that will allow your people to achieve results.
I have seen many coaching bundles advertised in my Facebook feed that include Coaching tools. Those tools are the elements of the system. But the system is much more than tools.
Without the system, your coaching will be frustrating and very difficult. The system is what allows you to get predictable results. It has such elements as:
- Support
- Pacing
- Environment
- Reminding
- Reporting and more
To conclude on the misconception: “Anyone can start a coaching business” – here is the takeaway
To start a coaching business become a person of Systems
Diary of The Coach – Kate Koronis
Let me summarize the main concepts I have learned and that I wish had known before starting the coaching business
Lessons Learned
- Coaching has to end with clients’ results – otherwise, it won’t sell
- Your coaching time has to be balanced – don’t kill yourself
- Coaching is more than sharing knowledge – it is like being also a psychologist
- Coaching is the ability to create and maintain systems for your clients – you can’t do it with only your enthusiasm
I am happy I did not give up and I have managed to bounce back and build my coaching program which I run successfully for a year now.