How do we grow and expand our business when the world is changing around us at light speed?

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to answer all the questions I raise in this piece, but I think the questions are important to ask in the first place. I suspect many or even most of you are already asking these questions, and maybe if I ask them back to you it will spur you to find your own answers. At the very least we might get each other thinking.

Seems like 2020 is the day the world changed. I say ‘day’ because it all happened so fast, I mean we’re not even at the end yet and I feel like I have to talk in the past tense because there’s too much!

One day everything was normal and the next minute it was self-distancing, working from home, “let’s Zoom” as an everyday phrase, the joys of home-schooling, the fear of possible economic ruin. Not to mention our brave and astonishing health workers, and all essential workers who have worked tirelessly in the most hideous conditions, to keep us all going.

I mean it’s a LOT. Deep breath. Sending out some love. Carry on.

In this world, the 2020 version, more coaches are turning to coaching to earn more of their income. And it seems like more and more are going through one or another Coaching Certification Program. It makes sense. The idea of having some independence, working from home, a separate stream of income, or a replacement income that we are in control of, not reliant on outside forces, all while doing some good in the world. Yes, please.

The challenges we face right now are that:
Many of us are transitioning out of something else, into coaching. Whether we’re just starting out as a coach, or we graduated a while back but need more income now, or we’re planning for the future, prepping as it were.
We are most likely going to be working from home, and in all likelihood, we’ll be working remotely in the short term anyway.
Our target market has never been so interested in their health, have never prioritized it so highly – but many of them feel economically insecure at best. Money is tight, non-existent, or being squirreled away just in case.
Events and public gatherings, networking face to face, getting yourself out there 1:1 is almost completely off the table for many people.

And here we are, needing to build a bigger income, a bigger base of clients, maybe start a new career or replace a corporate income. How do we meet these challenges? How can we grow ourselves into becoming the solution? What is the answer to all these challenges?

I read a great quote the other day, I’d never seen it before – “Living, is the meaning of life” I can’t find one person to attribute this to sorry, I’ve since seen it so many places I feel like a plonker for not having seen it before!

But it’s a great quote with such great depth. And for me, it’s relevance here is that it’s the DOING that has the answers.

We just need to jump. Start coaching, start talking, connecting to, and engaging with your market. Stop making it hard, stop trying to be perfect, stop getting stuck in your head, or thinking that you can THINK your way through this.

Try to come from your deepest truth and your most authentic self – and if you don’t know who that is yet, that’s ok! Just be the you that’s here now and you’ll pretty much nail it.

We must not be afraid of each other, or of competition – there is so much room, and even more need for us all. I am fortunate enough to have worked with lots of different coaches and aspiring coaches over the years, and I know how different we all are. We are like fingerprints, not one of us are the same. We may have the same niche, we could say the same thing, but I’m me and you are you and this client is themselves and they will resonate with something in the way one of us says it. Some little thing will ring true, and ring their bell. And for the next person, it will be the opposite maybe.

But I feel that, now more than ever, we must work really hard to find our own authentic voice, to speak only our own truth. I know how hard that is, it should be the simplest thing in the world, to be true to yourself but boy I can surely be elusive sometimes! But we have to try.

And it’s doubly not easy when we are trying to find a market, to say the words that will spur them to action. We have to be watchful. Sometimes in our efforts to be right, we can lose our truth.

One of the many things 2020 is teaching me, is to summon the courage to just be myself, as I am, right here and now, in all my imperfect glory. To dare to jump even when I’m not ready (because let’s face it, I’m never ready!), and to have faith, that if I’m jumping in truth, if I’m doing it with love in my heart, then it’s going to be ok.

I may not land on my feet, it may not be graceful, but it will indeed be a jump, and I will work out how to get up on the other side. That’s then, this is now.

In order to be this authentic, to be truly true, I think we need to be more focused. Our efforts need to be honed in on ONE thing, not scattered. You can only jump in one direction at a time!

Let love be the driving force. But that includes you so don’t be giving this away for free if you need income!

I would recommend you FOCUS your efforts on one signature program, or one campaign – let that drive the conversation in your marketing, let that be THE thing for you right now. It’s simple, solid, and tangible, it gives you something to talk about with your clients, it gives them something to grab hold of as a solution, and a program gives them something to DO and focus on as they journey toward wellness.

I think, for as much as some of us aren’t fans, I think groups are the way to go right now. Zoom is awesome for small groups. It means you can earn more and your clients pay less. (Maybe that’s what 2020 is trying to tell us! We could all be working less and earning more! Oh boy that’d be great!) The great thing is, from a group, you can always upgrade someone to 1:1, from a finite program you can always run someone on into another program or continued sessions.

I’m putting together a Beta Group right now for a Program I’m launching for coaches to use with their clients. Check it out here, and I’ll send you some emails, see if it’s for you.

2020, for all its challenges, also has opportunity. I’m a big believer in the idea that every obstacle has opportunity in it. And if that’s the case, well… let’s just say there must be some MASSIVE opportunities lying ahead!