Most coaches don't have a problem with
ambition or motivation,
they don't lack passion or creativity,
but still most coaches get stuck
when it comes to starting
a successful coaching business.
If this feels familiar, you're at the right place.
Hi, this is Ajit Nawalkha and today we're talking about
how to start a successful coaching business.
There are four key elements that you need to
consistently work on to build a sustainable practice,
and I say consistently because market will change,
the industry will change, your clients' needs will change,
and till the time you're working consistently
on these four elements,
you will stay on top of your game.
The first element is
coach, coach, and then coach some more.
If you're anything like me,
you know that coaching is more than a job,
it's more than a profession.
It's a way of life.
That's what makes successful coaches, successful.
They're coaching all the time.
They're coaching their clients,
they are even coaching friends and family,
sometimes they're even coaching absolutely for free!
Say whaaaaat?
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying coach for free all the time,
but you do need practice,
and practice can only be done when you're coaching
and you're coaching a lot.
And sometimes, even if a client can't afford you,
they can create business connections
that might serve your coaching business.
For example, I once coached a potential client.
They were so impressed with my ability
that they introduced me to their circles.
They introduced me to other friends
that can potentially afford me.
Those introductions led to conversations
eventually leading to a few paying clients.
I couldn't believe this one act of service
led me to paying clients.
Yes, they were paying me!
The message here is
never stop honing on your skills,
never stop learning new skills.
Every best-selling author,
the best coach that you've seen,
started from nowhere.
They started from nothing
and then, they worked their way up to success
because they were on a continuous journey to be better,
and so should you.
Your superpower is to help people through coaching,
but you can't serve them
if you don't serve yourself first.
Remember with great power comes great responsibility.
So own it!
Master your power by always taking your skills
to the highest level possible.
You can only do that
when you don't stop coaching.
The second element is pricing.
One of the most common questions I get,
especially from new coaches, is Ajit,
how do I price my services?
It's a hard one to answer too.
Price too low and you might find yourself in a situation
where it's hard to make ends meet.
Price too high and you might overwhelm yourself with
the amount of work you need to do for your clients
or the amount of work you think
you need to do for your clients.
I need to be honest with you.
There is no right price in the coaching industry.
There's only the right price for you
and the phase and the stage of the journey
that you are in in your coaching practice.
Most coaches charge by an hourly rate
and that's fine when you are a part-time coach.
But don't make the same mistake
when you are looking to scale your coaching business
and get more clients.
Hourly rates will stunt your growth as a coach
and will keep you working round the clock.
Here's a mindshift I want to offer.
Price for the results you offer to your clients.
Note here I said results that you drive for your clients,
not what you think is your value or your worth.
We always tend to undervalue
what we are worth in our own eyes.
You talking to me?
You know I'm right.
As you get better as a coach,
as you get more skills,
remember to re-evaluate your prices
every couple of months.
You're becoming better as a coach,
you're delivering better results,
you can choose better pricing models.
The third element is coaching packages.
As a new coach, one-on-one hourly sessions
is a great way to find your methodology,
on how you really create results for your clients.
A coaching package is a series of coaching sessions
that are designed to get to the outcome
that your client desires.
The two questions you want to answer
to know what package to offer is firstly,
what is it that my client desires?
and secondly,
what is the best way to get them that result?
By going beyond 1-hour occasional coaching sessions,
you create a possibility of better, more deeper
transformational results for your clients.
It's like hiking, the higher you go, the better the view.
Here are some of the common coaching packages
that you may want to consider offering to your clients.
First one is the long-term coaching package.
You can think of it as a 2.0 version
of the one-on-one coaching session.
Instead of offering one-off coaching sessions,
you offer a 2-month, 6-month or 12-month package
that gets your client to a particular result.
If you are more interested in creating
deep transformation in a short period of time,
you may want to consider running intensives.
An intensive is a day-long coaching session
designed to create the transformation
without any follow-up or accountability.
And my personal favorite, group coaching.
As the name suggests, it involves bringing a group
of people trying to get the same outcome together,
and then coaching them together.
It may seem like group coaching
might be less effective, but the power
and the wisdom of the group and the collective
actually makes it a transformative experience.
Up to this point, we have covered three elements.
Developing your skills,
pricing yourself,
and creating packages.
Now let's go to the fourth key element.
Getting clients.
Enrollment is probably one of those actions
that coaches dread the most,
but it really doesn't have to be that way.
If you're a fan of Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio
or Tom Hanks, you might have seen the movie called
"Catch me if you can."
Based on the true story of a conman that cashed
fake checks for years and escaped the law for years.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- What, you think the FBI are the only ones on this guy?
I mean, come on.
Come on, he's dabbling in government checks here.
I've been following a paper trail
on this guy for months now.
How was that possible? It's fairly simple.
The real-life character Frank,
and the character in the movie,
had just insane confidence.
It's the same thing that you need to enroll clients.
Confidence.
When you believe in yourself
and the result you can create for your clients,
you reflect tremendous amount of confidence
towards your client,
which shows them that they can trust you
with the possibility of the result they want.
Another tip for better enrollment
is follow structure.
A good enrollment conversation
is a lot about the structure of the conversation.
Don't spend 30 minutes explaining the details
of different packages you have,
you lose them in the first 30 seconds.
The key to a great enrollment conversation is that
you talk less and listen more.
If you carefully listen to your clients,
they will tell you exactly
what is the result they're looking for
which allows you to tweak your message
and tweak your package in a way
that can position you as the person
who will get them the result they truly desire.
Last but not least, the best enrollment conversation
is where the client goes,
how can I work with you?
Isn't that the best feeling?
For this to happen, you have to open your clients' mind
towards the potential of the possible outcome
they will have when they work with you.
Think about it like this.
Say a new movie is out.
You don't look at who's the actor,
the producer, the director...
You look at the trailer of the movie
and, if it builds up that excitement,
you go watch the movie.
A trailer is a teaser for the movie,
it is there to build excitement for the movie.
Think about your enrollment conversation like that.
If you can create excitement and possibility
for your clients in your enrollment conversation,
they are much more likely to say yes.
This also ensures that you don't have to chase them.
They chase you.
So these were the four fundamentals
that you need to remember
to start a successful, thriving coaching business.
Which one was your favorite?
What's the big insight that you got out of this video?
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Thank you for watching
and have a phenomenal day.