Two of the key struggles that I see with my clients in marketing their coaching practice are that they're afraid to ask for their worth and their rate, and are stalled in their business growth because they're primarily offering just one-on-one coaching services. This article addresses the ways you can overcome these struggles in your own business.
Two of the key struggles that I see with many clients are that they're afraid to ask for their worth and their rate,
and they are stalled in their business growth because they're primarily offering just one-on-one coaching services. Here are two great tips on how to address these common obstacles when building your coaching practice:
1) Having a money mindset
A lot of coaches have trouble when it comes to asking for their worth and discussing rates with clients. While they really want clients and they want to make money, they're uncomfortable when the potential client or whoever's going to pay them, asks for their rate.
The conversation is going great and then they ask, "What do you charge?" and it just dies. That has nothing to do with business, but everybody thinks it does. Creating a rate in the marketplace and creating the right amount and so on and so forth has nothing to do with business. It has everything to do with mindset.
I often hear people say, "I'm going to call around and ask what other people are charging." That's the biggest mistake you can make when you are creating a rate because you automatically start from a place that isn't authentic. You're deciding what your value is based on other people's decisions.
You bring a history, a set of skills, and a heart and mind that's different than everyone else, so why would you allow anyone else to set the value for your time? What you offer your clients is unique and should be priced accordingly – not ignoring the marketplace, but also not being constrained by what everyone else is doing.
Think about how you can shift your mindset for money and how you can really work from a place of prosperity and abundance.
2) Build a Diversified Business Model
One of the things that I encourage people to do is not have a business that is solely based on one-on-one coaching, but to also have a business that has multiple streams of income. No matter what area of coaching you're in, to just have the one-on-one coaching model leaves you vulnerable.
A couple of things can happen. Some of them are obvious. You could lose all your clients. Some of them are not so obvious. If something happened to you and your work is you, your sole income is based on one-on-one interaction, and that's a challenge. It's also a recipe for burnout. We hear it quite often.
"Oh, it's great. I've got 40 clients but I'm working 40 hours a week plus all the work I'm doing outside of our therapy sessions or help counseling sessions," or whatever it is. To have a business model that is based on more than one-on-one coaching is very important.
Beyond your one-on-one services, you need to develop information products and have programs. Have groups, a book, or an audio series.
All these information products can be repurposed and put out there in different ways – have your audios transcribed and turned into articles like this, or ebooks, or special reports. Turn your ebooks into membership programs using an autoresponder service.
Another idea is to train associates that work with you to also perform what you perform so that you have more than one person on your team.
The best business model, the one that really works, is when you have more than one source of income, not just your one-on-one coaching.
When you spend time looking into these areas as they apply to your business, you too will move past any fears about marketing in ways that feel uncomfortable for you, and into authentic marketing that naturally attracts your ideal clients and builds your business.
