This episode covers 4 big mistakes I made during the start up of my coaching business. Maybe you can relate.
Yes, I made all of these mistakes and more and I lived to tell the tale.
But I've experienced multiple magical turning points in my business as well. Wonderful things I never could have imagined came my way because I did not let my mistakes stop me.
And that's the key, right?
My guess is that, as I talk about these pitfalls, you'll recognize yourself in some but also realize that you're much more savvy than I was at startup. Coaches seem to get smarter every year.
Mistakes are still the best way to learn. It's a time honored tradition. And growing a coaching business, like any business, is a total experiment. It's a long term gamble.
When I was able to see my business in that light it became easier to power through mistakes by making small adjustments instead of over reacting.
If you can teach yourself to think like a scientist or an innovator and play the long game, you'll be golden. That gumption and grit will pay you back many fold.
Okay ... enough preamble ... now to dish the dirt.
Mistake #1 — Holding High Expectations
There are schools of thought about expectations.
Me? I'm with Shakespeare who purportedly said: "Expectation is the root of all heartache."
That's wisdom similar to the Buddhist belief that craving is what causes suffering. Sounds right to me.
See, I expected:
- to replace my income before I quit my job.
- to immediately get dozens of referrals from friends and family.
- for everyone to get the value of coaching with a single free session.
The weight of those expectations and others crushed me. Because when things didn't work exactly as I'd hoped, disappointment set in. I was certain that it meant I wasn't good enough.
It didn't mean that. It never means that. It only meant that the experiment was still alive. And, I needed to chill out emotionally while still taking action on behalf of my business.
Then, I realized pretty quickly that exchanging high expectations for low expectations was just another type of self sabotage. It's totally de-motivating.
So it's best to check expectations entirely. The winning attitude turns out to be another buddhist principle. Live in the present moment. Let love drive you in your business and show up as a professional. More about that in a minute ...
I know now that for my first 2 years of coaching, I had been holding my breath until I arrived at an imagined destination.
Where did my high expectations come from? Well some was arrogance. Some was ignorance. And the rest was because ...
Mistake #2 — I Drank the KoolAid
At the time, when I launched my coaching business there was a lot of hyperbolic messaging about coaches earning high 6 or 7 figures coming from rock star coaches.
As if that was the norm.
I'm glad to see that rhetoric has toned down. And several people who are earning high revenues these days are more transparent about the significant investment of time, sweat and seed money it takes to get there.
I was just listening to Natalie Eckdahl of Biz Chix, one of my favorite podcasts. She genero
