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Terri Levine on The Myths About Coaching

1. Coaching is a new profession

For sure it is not… it has been around as long as the human race with great coaches like Socrates, Olympic coaches, religious icons worldwide and other philosophers.

There is nothing new about people assisting people to greatness and the word coach has been around since the early civilization.

2. Most coaches have a full-time practice.

Most coaches do their work part-time or integrated into other work such as consulting, training, teaching, workshops, writing, speaking, etc. Coaching clients is part of what they do.

3. Mental health care practitioners don’t make good coaches.

Oh yes they do! They are incredible listeners and already have many of the basic coaching tools of powerful questioning, sharing observations, speaking the truth, co-creating relationships and come from a place of caring and empathy with their clients. They are way ahead of the game.

Continued in her article The Myths About Coaching.

career coaching, self-coaching, business self improvement, peak personal performance, self growth, life coaching

Kendall SummerHawk is a Professional Certified Coach, an expert in business coaching, branding, marketing and self-employment success

In her article Get Better Clients By Engaging Your Hero Archetype, she talks about the kind of hero “that champions our clients, taking a stand for their greatness and what’s possible for them, even when they don’t see it for themselves.

“Most of us don’t think of ourselves as a hero but that’s where we’re missing out, not seeing how, in fact, we have the opportunity every day to be a hero on behalf of our clients.

“When we take on even a few of the hero’s qualities we create new potential business building opportunities that translate directly into more success for them, and more money for us.”

She gives some examples: “Where are you allowing your clients to get by with less than outstanding results?

“Where are you holding back from saying what you really think (fearing that they won’t “like you” or they’ll perhaps be offended in some way)?

“What program or product have you held back from offering because you were afraid it might not succeed?”

Continued in Get Better Clients By Engaging Your Hero Archetype.

Also see more articles by Kendall SummerHawk on marketing and small business success – and information about her programs at www.kendallsummerhawk.com.

products for entrepreneurs, products for coaches, career development products, marketing for coaches, marketing for entrepreneurs

Rhonda Hess, Founder of Prosperous Coach, asks, “Would you go to all the trouble to build a coaching business if you knew it wouldn’t be financially successful?

“No! And yet, so many coaches doom their businesses to failure by trying to market to everyone – a strategy that rarely works in any industry.

“Those coaches take themselves right off the success track by staying a generalist.

“What’s a generalist? That’s a coach whose website or marketing materials bill them as a Life Coach, Relationship Coach, Career Coach, Business Coach – or, even less effective, all of the above.

“Those are not niche markets – they are broad specialties or titles.”

From her article Choosing a Niche Market for Coaching.

The image is from the book Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute for Life Coach Training, by Patrick Williams, Diane S. Menendez

Excerpted from article Avoiding the platitudes and simple solutions,

By Andrew Neitlich, Center for Executive Coaching :

Wonderful! The Wall Street Journal featured an article called, “Not communicating with Your boss? Count your blessings.”

The wisdom in this article offers a fantastic criticism of much advice that some executive coaches spew.

For instance:

- Asking “How can I help?” can be a good thing to do, but can also offend certain people by implying they need help.

- Paraphrasing what people say to show you are listening can make you sound like an idiot and offend others (who may not appreciate being paraphrased).

- Some problems between people can’t be solved by 5-step formulas or action plans.    [Continued]

The Forbes magazine article Surprising Six-Figure Jobs, by Tom Van Riper, encourages looking into a number of jobs that can pay $100,000 or more – including business and life coaching, as the author explains:

“About 20% of the 10,000 registered coaches earn six figure incomes, according to estimates from industry veterans. No special degree or training is required.

“And while some provide specific expertise, such as those hired by large companies to train a sales staff, others rake in money from those looking for little more than a cheerleader as they open a business or try their hand at writing a book. And along with the growth of coaching come derivative businesses that cater to them.

“Coaching is exploding,” says Dan Janel, president of Great Teleseminar, a business that caters to tech-savvy coaches by handling the production work needed to perform remote seminars via the TV screen. Janel said his business was earning six figures itself within 13 months, thanks to the plethora of coaches popping up.”

“Another business spawned by coaching, naturally, is coaching the coaches. Christian Mickelsen [photo], who started as a small business coach in San Diego seven years ago, now helps wannabe coaches get their businesses started through his Web site, CoachingBusinessRocketLauncher.

“He says the key to six-figure success in coaching is finding a specialty and sticking with it. ‘Be a business or life coach but not both. You need to realize why people hire coaches; it’s not about having some super-awesome life, but because they have a specific problem they want to solve.’”

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Also see Christian Mickelsen articles.