One of our newer coaches asked me recently, “Should I just give up or wait a little longer?” She’s a very competent lady with an impressive corporate background and is very capable of coaching others in her profession. She has her website up, has done one small workshop and has one paying client. But she’s discouraged by the slow pace of response and new business.
Business success is not a function of time but rather a result of taking specific action.
I told her having a great website up was comparable to walking through the mall with a really nice business card in your pocket. You know it’s there but no one else is seeing it. I further told her that her business success was not dependent on “time” but on her specific action steps. Being open for business another month or another year would have little to do with her success. Only by doing sales and marketing activities would she have any chance of building her business.
I encourage new coaches (or any business owners) to anticipate spending no more than 20 hours a week in actual coaching. The rest of the time should be spent writing blogs or magazine articles, speaking, or directly building referral relationships.
Bring an old farm kid makes it easy to see this as a natural process. You don’t reap a harvest without doing a whole lot of work leading up to that.
- Planting the seed – building a website
- Weeding – clarifying your distinct offering
- Fertilizing – speaking, writing and networking to let others know
- Harvesting the Crop – having a customer show up ready to engage with you
I’m attaching the checklist we give all participants in our Coaching with Excellence live event. The first one will be January 29-30th – right here at the Sanctuary.
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I’m finding more and more that meeting people in person is the best way to form relationships and grow my business. Dan, your guideline to spend 20 hrs. per week broadening your reach via blogging, speaking, or networking is helpful. It’s more than I would have expected, but I see the value and it makes sense.
I recently read the book “Ready, Fire, Aim” by Michael Masterson. It said that anyone starting a business should spend 80% of their time marketing during the first year. That’s a lot of seed-sowing, but eventually something does come up. The biggest challenge is staying motivated when your ground looks barren and everybody else’s fields are green!
I really needed to hear this again! I see I need to do more toward marketing my services. I am doing a fair amount now but I know there are gaps I need to fill. I LOVE the “business card/walk through the mall” analogy. Thanks Dan.
Clark – I know you’re on track in making the important transitions in your business. You started at such a high level of engagement. I think you can redirect your marketing exposure to inform people of your new direction and focus.