Congratulations! You started your new coaching business. Now what? How do you get your name, message and reputation to the masses? How do you get that ground-breaking first client? How do you create a website? The following are 5+ observations I’ve made so far in the process. Disclaimer: My business officially began June 28, 2021 and yes, I’m seeking my first paying client.

Choose Outside Guidance Wisely.

• You have, are, and no doubt, will continue to receive career input from multiple people. It’s for you to decide which advice is helpful, harmful and even if the advice is relevant.
  
• Take time to find the right coach training program for you. Do your homework and align yourself with the best. That’s one reason I chose Andrew Neitlich and the Center for Executive Training. Another reason was the simplicity on the website helping me understand the different ways to become certified.

READ!!!

• There is much to learn, at least in my case and I would rather be mowing the lawn than reading. Make your reading a daily habit. It’s just like writing, except you’re filling your intelligence tank. Fill it as often as you can. I usually only last 45 or so minutes at a time unless the content is extra compelling. That’s an hour and a half daily when you block out 2 sessions.
  
• Read on a variety of topics. This sharpens the tools in your coaching toolbox. Having conversations on a variety of business-related topics strengthens your credibility and ability to help your clients through issues.
  
• I’m discovering it’s a great way to uncover topics I didn’t know that I don’t know. Let me explain. We have vast knowledge and experience or we wouldn’t be here. What we know has led to success in our professional and, hopefully, personal lives. Reading helps you discover other subjects and ways of doing things you hadn’t considered.

Write!!!

• Writing adds value. It educates your audience and also lets them know a little about who you are. Good content brings out your personality and beliefs.
  
• Please see my previous article “If I Can Write…” to learn how a perpetual non-writer like me can create good content.
  
• You learn subject matter with more depth writing than reading. I always discover more training a group of young firefighters than when I went through the training. Writing is the same for me now.
  
• Experiment with your writing to find your natural style. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won multiple major championships with decidedly different approaches to golf.
  
• You may just add additional skills if you make writing a habit.

Get help even if you think you don’t need it.

• Your #1 driver to get your new coaching business started is the number of people you can get your message to on a daily basis. But you’re starting your business and there’s so much to do that doesn’t get your message to anyone. Hire cost-effective experts for the mechanical business issues like your legal documents, website, logo and, most importantly, YOU, which leads to the next point.
  
• Your coach-training organization can help you beyond the how-to-coach training. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and you can learn from those that have been in your shoes. Andrew and others affiliated with the CEC have been generous with their time.

Be laser focused and the 70-30 rule.

• Amazon started selling books, that’s it, books. Look at the giant now. Jeff Bezos started his company laser focused and became the absolute best option for consumers to buy books. 
  
• In my case, Andrew talked with me about choosing a niche in which I have experience. Your experience is the base for credible content. Become the absolute best in your particular market and expand from there. That sounds easy enough, but it’s not. You may think you’re leaving so many opportunities in other markets behind. I’ll throw you a lifeline to take the plunge.
  
• The 70-30 rule is the lifeline that helps you focus on what you know and still expand your business into other markets. Here’s how the rule works: spend 70% of your business development time on your target niche and 30% of your time on new revenue streams.
  
• How Amazon grew to the giant it is today in different and unrelated industries leads me to the last point I’ve learned in the process of starting a coaching business.

Bonus observation – Experiment Conservatively.

• You have your target niche receiving 70% of your business development time. The other 30% can be used to explore new markets, develop new products, write a book, etc. Keep the experiments as low-risk as possible. Not every experiment will work. The best professional golfers in the world hit each shot knowing where their safe “out” is in case they mis-strike the ball. But Dustin Johnson usually has a tap-in birdie when he hits it perfectly. 
  
• You don’t need to be as perfect as Dustin. Cast a net with your new-market experiments. If your experiments are low-risk and fail, hopefully all you’ve lost is the time exploring. You will grow your business when an experiment is successful, taking one more step forward to your vision.

The last thing I’m learning that I didn’t think was possible, unless I played catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, is I’m enjoying the process. The end result will take care of itself. You can enjoy your Wednesday in your business process as much as Saturday night by the grill.

Website available August 24, 2021 www.bellavistaexecutiveadvisors.com