Only Do What You Love - It Is Your Key to Successful Entrepreneurship

Imagine a cup that represents your internal energy. When your cup is full, even overflowing at times, you feel confident and focused; you're in the zone.  You have so much to give to your clients, your business and your circle of influence.

Now imagine your cup springing a leak. As the energy slowly drains out, you struggle to keep it full. It gets harder and harder to pour energy into your business and the people around you. You feel much less vibrant, and you enjoy your activities less. Things become a struggle when there is less energy to go around.

This cup represents not only your energy but your ability to achieve success. It's not just imaginary; it is a very real part of your life as an entrepreneur. So, if you want to be successful, you have to ask yourself:

• How do I need to design my business so that my cup stays full?
• How can I market my business in a way that keeps me energetic and passionate?

These are very important questions, because in the coaching industry, we’re not selling a product; we are marketing ourselves. It's personal, very personal. We’re asking people to invest in us. This can be an intimidating thing to do. It's a high-stakes proposition, and it can bring out our inner gremlins – self-doubt and insecurities. As we go about building our business and coaching others, we want to be engaged in activities that feel natural and effortless, so our inner light can shine and people can experience our brilliance, not our fears.

 

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Embrace the standard that 80 percent of your time as a coach in business you will be doing what you love and find a way to let go of or delegate the rest! Your success depends on it.

 

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.

Navigating our social media driven world

When social media channels first emerged on the scene in the early 2000s, they were perceived by many as a fad. Something that would stick around only long enough until the next big thing appeared. But today, with more than one billion users across numerous platforms (TechCrunch, 2012), they are very clearly here to stay.

As a coach in today’s technologically advanced world, how can you best utilize these burgeoning social media channels to your advantage? Which platforms should you use? How do you build up your likes/followers/fans? What messages should you share? Read on for the tips and tricks of navigating social media.

Facebook
If you aren’t on Facebook, you should be. This social media tycoon has more than one billion monthly active users—81 percent of which live outside North America (Facebook, 2012). With so many active users, many of your past, current, and potential clients are bound to be there already.

Gain loyal followers: You do this by providing quality content on a regular basis. What can you offer that provides value? It is important to post content beyond your business—entice people by posting about coaching, your community and more. Daily, consistent updates keep fans engaged and interested in what you have to offer. There is no magic number when it comes to how many posts you should put out there in a given day or week. Test different strategies to see what works for you.

Engage people in conversation by asking questions and always responding to comments and questions on your page.

23% of Facebook users check their account 5+ times daily! Some 80% of social media users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook AND a whopping 77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook. (Huffington Post, 2012)

Twitter
Twitter is rapidly growing as a social media mainstay. The trick is to sell yourself in 140 characters or less (less is more!). You want multiple tweets in a day, but too many—or too salesy—tweets will cause followers to stop following. Space out your tweets (you can even schedule tweets through a program like Hootsuite) to keep content moving steadily.

Getting started in the Twittersphere: Seek out colleagues and friends to follow on Twitter. The people you follow will prove to be a constant source of inspiration—it is through them that you will be able to retweet (share) content and you’ll glean ideas for future messaging.

Post and share content that matters: By consistently providing valuable content in your areas of expertise, people will turn to you as source. Balance out your messaging with retweets of others’ content. Pose questions, post quotations, share articles/blog posts that speak to you. The Twitter feed moves quickly. The nature of Twitter allows you to repurpose your messages and share more than once—this is especially important if your followers are spread across multiple time zones.

Be an active part of the conversation. Retweet and comment on posts! If people engage with you, interact! An unfortunate 56 percent of customer tweets to companies are being ignored (Huffington Post, 2012). You don’t want that to be you!

Since the dawn of Twitter, there have been a total of 163 billion tweets. In 2012, one million accounts were added to Twitter every day. (Huffington Post, 2012)

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is frequently touted as a powerful social networking tool for professionals and is a great way to connect with past/current/future clients.

More than 2.6 million companies have LinkedIn Company pages. (LinkedIn Press Center, 2012)

Tips for making the most of yours: have a complete profile page—you want to build trust from the very beginning. Provide enough information so people feel comfortable reaching out to you. Tell your story…why should people care about you/your business? Don’t leave fields blank (this includes all possible contact information you can list)! Add a real photo of yourself—people like to see the person behind the profile.

Join and be active: Once your account is set up, you will want to begin networking. There is a plethora of coaching groups active on LinkedIn where you can join in on numerous discussions.

Likewise, if leads are what you seek, they can be found on LinkedIn, you just have to ask! Anytime you make a new connection, don’t be afraid to let them know you are searching for a lead.

Blog
If done well, your blog can be a powerful tool to promote your business/services; boost additional web traffic to your website; and connect with potential clients.

Concerned with content? The growth of coaching in recent years has been phenomenal—as such, people are constantly searching for more information about it. In addition to writing about your own business and coaching, talk in broader terms about the profession. Answer those frequently asked questions you have heard over the years. Shed insight into what coaching is and what it isn’t. Talk about the coaching process and how people can determine if it will work for them.

60% of businesses have a business or company blog—of these, 35% actively blog at least once a month. (Blogging.org, 2012)

Other social media platforms you might consider using:

YouTube
There are over 800 million unique visitors to YouTube each month (YouTube, 2012). If you create videos, a branded YouTube channel is a perfect way to house your collection. Your own channel allows viewers to subscribe to your content (and be immediately notified of any new videos you post). Through YouTube, it is simple to embed your videos directly into blog posts for use across other social media platforms.

Pinterest
This relatively new platform is all about increasing your business’ visibility. Potential ideas for use include: sharing favorite quotes, books, success stories, etc. Be creative! It was found that 69 percent of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve bought or wanted to buy, compared with 40 percent of Facebook users (Huffington Post, 2012). Also, 43 percent of people prefer Pinterest to associate with retailers or brands; 24 percent chose Facebook (Huffington Post, 2012). Pinterest use continues to grow amongst businesses with the now available Pinterest Business pages.

If you have any tips or strategies when it comes to social media usage, we would love to hear them! Tweet them to us using this hash tag: #icfsmtip

Works Cited
1. Facebook. (2012, October). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.facebook.com/: http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts
2. Huffington Post. (2012, November 29). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-honigman/100-fascinating-social-me_b_2185281.html
3. LinkedIn Press Center. (2012, September 30). Retrieved December 5, 2012, from LinkedIn: http://press.linkedin.com/About
4. TechCrunch. (2012, May 14). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://techcrunch.com/: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/14/itu-there-are-now-over-1-billion-users-of-social-media-worldwide-most-on-mobile/

Kristin Kelly is the woman behind ICF’s social media initiates. She’s the one who keeps you informed through Facebook, shares interesting articles about coaching on Twitter, and moderates discussions on LinkedIn. She is also the editor of the official ICF blog and manager of ICF’s email newsletters. Kristin has been on staff as ICF’s Marketing Specialist for the last five years. If you have a submission for the blog, email her at kristin.kelly@coachfederation.org. This article was first featured in the February 2013 issue of Coaching World. 

Five reasons your coaching business needs your story

You may have heard it said 'Stories Sell'.  It's true.  We really connect to a good story and it's a proven marketing and sales tactic.

You know this instinctively, you only buy something when you really 'believe' it.  And you can take any example from your own life.  Think about the last purchase you made; what was the pitch?  What did you believe when you bought it?  I can guarantee you, it was a great story.

However, I'm not writing about new 'tactics' here.  I want to write about something much more authentic and personal than the latest proven business building gimmick.

And what's this got to do with coaching?  Well you can be the best coach in the world but if you can't sell your services, you simply don't have a business.

Here are the five  reasons your coaching business needs YOUR story and these are also the five ways you can build your business authentically and easily.

1. Your Story is evidence of your expertise. What you have experience; including your personal life events, research, education and approach, is the best evidence of why you are perfectly placed to coach others.

2. Your Story creates powerful connect. When we hear your authentic story we are reminded of our own related experiences and instinctively understand that you get it!

3. Your Story is inspiring. Your potential clients are struggling to achieve something.  You have grown beyond that struggle so by telling that story you are inspiring others.

4. Your Story is the key to attracting clients. Your story differentiates you from others in your market. People always remember the story and be attracted by it. You show up as human, approachable, knowledgeable and most importantly, relevant.  Clients find you when you start telling your story.

5. Your Story makes you money. Add up all of what's said before…more connection, more expertise, more inspiration, more clients – yes, it means you will make more money and have a thriving business. Now what coach would say no to that!

You need a great story.  And you don't have to make it up.  You have a great story.  Don't doubt it.

Your story is who you are, it's how you create your reality, it's how you show up.

Start showing up powerfully with your authentic, compelling story – your business will thank you for it!

Lisa Bloom, PCC is founder of Story Coach Inc. and the Certified Story Coach Program.  Download her ebook ‘Using Stories to Get Great Clients’ at http://www.story-coach.com.

How to make building your coaching business seem fun & effortless

Building a coaching business can feel daunting, especially if the entrepreneurial world is new to you or you don’t particularly like the whole marketing conversation. But let it be known, you do not have to do the hard driving, grit your teeth action to build a profitable business.

If I told you it was possible to market your business through activities that you found fun, energizing and effortless, would you believe me?  I'm going to share with you how to make that vision true for you.

Building a successful business is like building a skyscraper, you need a solid foundation to support a six-figure business. But beyond a solid foundation to support it, you need a consistent source of energy to keep doing the activities you need to do to get the results you desire.

What is this source of energy? We’re talking about marketing. Not flash-in-the-pan marketing… sustainable marketing. And if you want it to be sustainable, it has to be easy. It has to fit with your natural abilities – the things you are good at and enjoy doing. I call these your attractive abilities – your key to successful entrepreneurship.

Every single person on the planet has a unique set of talents and gifts. These are the things that come easy to you and complement your personality. You are good at them, and naturally, you love to do them.

For example, some people are extroverted and enjoy engaging those around them in meaningful conversations, like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

Others are introverted and they have an impressive skill set when it comes to processing information and putting their thoughts on paper. An example could be leaders such as Warren Buffett or Steven Spielberg.

Sometimes, these abilities feel so natural that we assume everyone can do these things. But that simply isn't true. These traits are gifts, specially developed aspects of your personality, and they form the basis of your unique ability to contribute in the world.

Give yourself a chance to thoroughly investigate what it is that you are both great at and love doing.

Begin by asking yourself these four critical questions.
1. Which business activities energize you, both during and after you do them?
2. Which business activities make time fly?
3. Think of a time when you were successful as a professional. What activities were you doing?
4. What activities do other people complement your performance on (and you feel surprised because you thought everyone was good at it)?

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Decide today to align your marketing activities with things you love to do and what you are great at and embrace the effortless way of being a coach in business.

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.

Time management for the coach

One of the key areas of concern that will often raise a question to existing coaches is that of time management.

I will cover this in a number of ways today that I hope you find useful and that you can start to apply to your own practice and client work.

Firstly a start up question I would like to ask you is

Do you have “enough” time or are you spending time avoiding what you don't like or feel confident in?

How can you change this?

So, now we turn our attention to the actual session of coaching.

I have often found that this an area that can raise different arenas of challenge for coaches.

It may be that you find sessions are overrunning in terms of time. Initially you have set a time slot for your coaching, whether that be an hour or thereabouts and you see that the session has overrun substantially.

What has led to this?

I see that at times clients will want to share what is on their mind and want to off load and talk. This is useful but at times can also create a question mark for you as the coach. When do you start to coach them and bring them back on track?

Firstly how is allowing them to “talk” useful to them without you needing to create the next steps or an action plan.

Framing the session and setting the scene

When I meet clients I will have already established through an initial discovery session why they have come to me for coaching, and what they are looking to gain from this, so that the actual time spent with my client in the first session is focused on the desire change.

I also say that “ today we have an hour – what is it you would like to gain from todays session?”

This sets the scene and also enables a focus on time up front. I have found this very useful when working with clients.

Checking in

Rapport and connection is very important within coaching and by always checking the time can not only break rapport but also be quite irritating for clients!

That said, it is important to keep track of where you are and what time you have left.

Not only for you but also the client may have further appointments after your time together in the session.

A watch placed to the side of you whilst you coach can be useful. If you are using a mobile phone make sure it is switched to silent! This also sets the boundaries and focus of the session in terms of time.

Emotions and time

How are these linked?

In my experience of transformational coaching I have sometimes observed that as the session is drawing to a close the client will bring to the coaching table an emotional subject that means the most to them.

At first I wondered what I wasn't doing properly or to the best effect. When I questioned this I realised that clients could also be avoiding the most “emotional” areas of their life and throwing it in at the last minute.

How do you do you deal with this?

I would firstly acknowledge it and not just “ignore” it but also say that today this isn’t something that can be explored or resolved but that you are very happy to bring this into the next session.

You may want to also explore why this was not brought up earlier? This can prove very useful for clients to link this to deeper levels of meaning and provide great coaching material for future sessions.

Managing your own time

Prepare for your session – both practically and emotionally.

Don't allow time pressures to creep up and before you know it you are rushing around trying to get things ready for your session.

Coaching slots

If you are working maybe full or part time alongside building a coaching practice then you may want to allocate a coaching day or evening rather than be available whenever you are asked from clients – this can also look good from a scarcity point of view and showing that you have clients on going.

Time for you

Part of being a coach is to help people in their lives. Whatever this means to them. As in other fields of work that involve helping others do allow time to do what you enjoy that will give your life balance and fulfilment. Whatever that means to you.

Paul Kensett is Head of Training and Mentoring within the Smart School. He delivers the Personal Transformation Coaching programme to student life coaches. Learn more: http://www.thesmartschool.co.uk/index.php and http://www.thesmartschool.co.uk/life-coach-training.