Why do you find it challenging to self-promote and market your coaching business?
Well, the simple answer is, because coaches predominantly want to make it all about the client, not about themselves. Others come first. We want to focus on the well being of you!
BUT if you cannot market your coaching business and you have no or little coaching clients, your business is not sustainable, unless you have a financially supportive spouse or were left a large inheritance.
Basic fact… you need paying clients, you need to self-promote.
To have a successful business, you must have led to prospect to. To have a successful business you either need paying clients to run your business or products to sell (thus clients to buy them) or another day job (or the two options previously mentioned).
So how do we promote or sell our own business when we don’t want to make it about us, we want to make it about them.
Well, you have one of maybe three choices, (perhaps more):
- Suck it up and learn how to self-promote – how to market your coaching business (which may not be a strength of yours).
- Pay someone else to do your marketing for you (let someone with these strengths take over).
- Keep giving away your coaching and starve your business (AKA there is no business)
So why is this important?
Because as a coach you need to live. You can only survive if you have the basic needs in life – food, shelter, family and the resources to manage and maintain a successful coaching business.
Are these ringing a bell? Are they some tips you offer your clients?
If you do not follow your own advice, how can you possibly be able to serve your clients?
You are doing your clients or so-called clients, a disservice by not self-promoting, by not marketing your coaching business and definitely by not marketing yourself as a coach.
Remember, people only ever “get” what they’re prepared to pay for. So what are your clients paying for if they pay nothing? Or what are you paying if prospects cannot find you because you’re not promoting your awesome services?
BUT how we hear you ask… is it about the How or is it worth taking a look at your Why first. Remember your purpose, remember your Why.
Remember Simon Sinek’s so powerfully coined the phrase, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!”
Once you know your Why, the How and the What comes easy. The clients will buy why you do it. Make sense?
How – simply learn how to language your strengths, how you do things well, how you help your clients and how you will serve them their purpose. Then post it in every social media channel you have available and do it every day in every group you’re involved in.
“But isn’t that spam” we hear you ask.
No!
To start with, in open forums, people may mention if they find your material offensive. Simply thank them and reframe from posting wherever they’re at (*this is only if the offended party is the administration of the forum). If the group has for example 10,000 members and two people complain, do you want to focus on the 2 or the 9,998 who either didn’t see your material, enjoyed it or didn’t choose to comment either way.
Are you really prepared to give up 9,998 contacts for 2 complainers?
Admittedly, if you’re not receiving any positive likes, comments, and feedback, it may be worth revising your material and assessing how effective you’re describing your Why and How.
*If the person offended was the administrator, simply thank them for their feedback, apologize, ask them what offended them and where you went outside the rules of the group so you can learn for next time. Then if you cannot salvage how you language your Why and How perhaps offer to not post in the group again.
Either way simply finds another group who will accept your Why and How. If you keep having to find new groups, that’s OK. The gold is in the learning how to language your Why. 
We bet somewhere along the way you’ll find your purpose. You’ll start do develop a successful business. And most importantly, you’ll serve your clients to the best of their ability.
Remember, when you begin to develop your talents into strengths you will begin to succeed on a maximum level. We love to maximise any opportunity to connect with fellow coaches and their ideas around starting their successful business today for a brighter future. And they’re our strengths!
If you’re interested in learning more about your Why or Simon Sinek, check out his TED talk below and you may even wish to purchase his book, Start With Why. It’s an awesome read, I have it as an audiobook and listen to it in the car.
If you’re uncertain of what your top 5 talents are, or even what the Clifton StrengthsFinder ® is, simply contact us below, email us at info@chooseyourchapter.com.au or visit the Gallup Strengths Center website direct and complete the online assessment. You’ll be amazed by your results. They will uncover your innate talents so you may begin to focus on developing them into mature strengths.
And to maximize your opportunities you may want to consider our Udemy Strengths Course. Depending on when you’re reading this post may determine whether you may obtain it as a gift from Udemy at no charge (but we all know how much people value free stuff don’t we LOL), $9, $19, $29 or even $295. However, we guarantee value as you will learn about different strengths from over 34 different strengths coaches located all around the world.
How much would that be worth to you?
Or, perhaps an even better question…
How much will it cost you and your coaching business if you fail to improve how you language your strengths, your Why and your How?
At the end of the day, it’s your choice. That’s the name of this business, Choose Your Chapter… It’s your choice to choose the chapter of life you wish to live.
Something to think about:
Course Benefits
By completing the Focus On Your Strengths – How to develop Talents into Strengths you will:
- Gain a greater understanding and awareness of each of your 34 talent themes.
- Learn from 34 different Strengths Coaches around the world, how they’re familiar with the strengths in their top 5 and how they may coach you around maximizing your performance based on your top 5 talents.
- Answer questions relating to your understanding of each of your 34 talent themes.
- Dive deeper into each of your top 5 talent themes.
- Have the opportunity to apply for the CYC Certification in understanding your top 5 talents (Great for lead generation, self-promotion, resumes, job interviews, personal and professional development, promotions etc).
If you would like to receive the Focus On Your Strengths Udemy Course follows one of the links on this site or simply enter your email below and we’ll forward you a link. When we launch in January ’17 we will be giving away this course for 24 hours as a gift to all our family, friends and coaches.
*Disclaimer – All of the content on this site and the Focus On Your Strengths Udemy course are entirely developed by Choose Your Chapter and are NOT products of Gallup, Inc ® nor the Clifton StrengthsFinder. We would like to acknowledge Gallup and the CSF for their data and research tool which allows us to help spread the word to focus on our strengths. Clifton StrengthsFinder ® and StrengthsFinder ®. Each of the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. Choose Your Chapter are not affiliated with Gallup, Inc or its subsidiaries.
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Email: info@chooseyourchapter.com.au