TJL: Hi, this is Thomas Leonard. We'll be starting in a couple of minutes. We'll be talking to you a bit about getting through the first 2 years as a coach. I'm glad you're with us - it's a great topic. When I look back at my first 10 years as a coach, it was almost painful everyday, and I think people still go through that pain. There's just a period of overwhelm that everyone is going through. There are ups and downs through the process, but it's certainly a bit of chaos through the first few years. We're going to talk about the 3 things we think will help you make it through the first 2 years without the stress I went through. Dave, what did you experience in the first 2 years of coaching? I think people think it's always been easy for us.

DB: When I think back to 5-6 years ago and started coaching professionally, I wa coaching people for $25 a month. I started out as pro bono, then moved up to $25.

TJL: Did you charge it as a marketing tool, because you didn't have the confidence, or because you wanted the experience?

DB: All of the above. I knew I needed to coach a bunch of people and had no idea what to charge so I gradually changed my fee, starting with 25, then 50, then 100 and so on. in the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing, but I learned so much from my clients and became better and better.

TJL: Where did you get your support from?

DB: I had joined CoachU and I found a couple of people that we tapped into each other, and I also got myself a coach.

TJL: Great; we'll move into the 1st step - it's to set a target to coach 100 clients in your first 2 years.

Susan: Thomas? We can't find 10 clients to coach, let alone 100!

TJL: Set yourself a goal of 1 a week. That's really what it is. Some of the things coaches are getting overwhelmed by are happening by not coaching.

Susan: Can it be pro bono as well?

TJL: Absolutely, but we encourage you to get them to pay you. There's a certain price point every coach feels comfortable with, and if you go over that point, you'll fee like you're overcharging. It's important to find that point at the beginning. Rather than trying to build a practice, just get the experience of coaching. It's more important to have that experience of coaching 100 people, even if it's for only a single session. You'll find out who you most enjoy working with, and will build your confidence and practical experience. You'll go through probably 70 of those clients in a week or two, but that's okay.

DB: It's a big mistake to model your coaching practice after someone who's been in business for a few years already.

TJL: Susan, was that helpful?

Susan: So you're saying you want to take the pressure off making mney for the first 2 years?

TJL: Yes; it's important to keep your day job during this process so you have sufficient revenue. Great question, Susan. 2nd step is to install 10 support structures to keep you moving forward. Let me to through the list of those - first, a support structure of training is important, whether it's a coaching school, training courses, etc. if you have these skills, you will do a better job with your clients. Second, make sure you have access to solutions. We're working to have several f these 3-step solutions to use with your clients and have as a delivery tool. Third, you want to tap into a resource of structure to get tools, forms, and answers. Again, CoachVille is a good resource for that - we have over 500 forms available to coaches. Having these tools educates you on the many things you do can do for clients. Those are the first 3. Dave?

DB: The next one we talked about is having at least 3 colleagues you can collaborate with along the way; make sure you have some folks you can communicate with regularly - make sure you don't get isolated. You'll also learn tips and tricks that have worked for your friends along the way. Another one is sort of obvious - if you're going to be a coach, you should have a coach. In being a coach and having a coach for the last 6 years, it's essential to have that experience in your life. that experience will make you even more effective as a coach.

TJL: Yes, it's important to have someone with you, guiding you as you go along. You might want to set up your own mastermind group or conference call that you can host. You might want to have Instant Messaging, or rent a bridge once a week, for example. The point is to have a group of people that are learning together and enjoying that collaboration. The next thing is to have a marketing plan - if you're focused on effective marketing, it's going to reduce the time you spend worrying about that.

DB: I know for myself I maintained my consulting practice for the first 5 years, and coaching part-time. I had a solid revenue stream backing me up while I was coaching, and that made a big difference; I felt much more confidence.

TJL: And if you're afraid of losing a client, they're not going to be as honest with you as you need to be.

Susan: And it's hard to market yourself when you're broke!

DB: Yes - you can smell desperation through the phone! Another thing I tell coaches all the time is to think of coaching as a skill set, not a profession, in the beginning. Mst people still thinking of coaching in terms of sports.

TJL: And that's where those 25 menu items come into play. It will help folks understand what you do. And it's tempting to just jump into it, and you end up sucking up your savings account, get really stress, and so on in the process.

DB: When I had so many clients, the right time just "occurred" - but it took 5 years. It doesn't have to take that long, obviously, but think of it in terms of a longer timeframe. Also, maintain a database of contacts - people you've known, people you've coached, and so on. Also, have a way for people to sign up on your website. Connections are everything in the personal services business. Even just having 3 or 4 people I know as great web designers has been great.

TJL: And one of the ways to provide value is to have those referrals - part of being a coach is helping to solve people's problems, whatever they are.

DB: The last thing is to get set up with a merchant account so you can take credit cards; it's not that hard or expensive, but it's well worth it.

TJL: And when someone else wants to hire you over the phone, you can immediately take their credit card. You can go to CartVille.com and set up an merchant account and shopping cart for your website.

Susan: Didn't you say not to worry about money for the first 2 years, but then you're telling us to get a shopping cart?

DB: Yes, while you shouldn't worry about money, you should have the system set up for your clients to pay by credit card, even if it's only $25.

TJL: Yes, who wants to chase a client for $25, much less $500? The 3rd step, then, is to turn every client into your own coach. I basically used every client not just to learn from them, but actually designating them and letting them know part of their role is to help you coach them better. That's an exciting thing to do because it takes the pressure off of you to be fully knowledgeable or the expert, and make it a collaborative process.

XXX: A lot of my clients know I'm open to it and it enhances our relationship so much.

TJL: Yes - we're collaborative by nature in this profession. We can learn from our clients, calls like this, coaching schools, and other methods. Thank you Dave and Susan. This marks the end of the first segment.

(moment of silence)

TJL: And we're back. This is the portion that study group hosts will listen to and gain ideas from. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Susan: What do you think about getting a niche in your first 2 years? There's been a lot of talk about that lately.

DB: I would discourage that; it takes the first few years to figure out which clients you want to work with, what areas you really enjoy working on best, and so on.

TJL: Yes - it's like medical students. They're rotated through the many different units in a hospital because to give them practical experience in a specific discipline and help them decide which specialty is for them.

DB: My feeling is that it's much easier to market yourself when you know what you want to be known for, but I would encourage you to not jump into that too soon.

XXX: There's something refreshing about you guys saying "just take the next 2 years" - to take the pressure off having to be a success within the first 2 years.

Heidi: I'm really relieved that you bring up this time issue; I was stressing myself without even knowing it. It just takes away the pressure; I thought I was a failure because I wanted to have a job while I'm building my client base.

TJL: Also, by having a job, you have contacts to a lot more people. Dave said earlier that it's important to treat coaching as a business, but foremost, it's a calling. If you truly care about people, you don't have to rely on a specific definition of a coach, you just want to help. Don't get caught up on what coaching is or should be. If you see an opportunity where you can help someone, then do it.

DB: And think about your skills as a skill set you can use in just about any endeavor.

TJL: Great; anyone else have a question?

XXX: Assuming you have sufficient skills and a sufficient network, what would you advise someone must do to get the business up and running? If you don't have another job and need to get the revenue coming in, for example.

TJL: In 100 percent of the cases, I would advise the person to get a job.

XXX: What would give you the comfort level?

TJL: Financial reserves.

DB: I'd still say get a job; have revenue coming in. If you have no revenue coming in, they can smell it and they think, you need me and I don't need you.

TJL: The benefit is you'll have the courage to challenge your clients to take care of your money as well. At one point, I worked as a waiter for 6 months to get the money coming in. You have to get that handled in order to move forward. It may be awkward and embarrassing to get a job, but I just can't any other way.

XXX: Okay, let's say that you're already having some success as a coach and you have 6 months reserve - what would you do?

TJL: You can generally double or triple the revenue within 6 or 12 months with a good mentor coach. There's a bit of stress involved, but that's what a good mentor coach does.

DB: If you're making $1,000 a month and think if you just dig in you'll get to $5,000 quickly, that's not going to happen. You've really got to have that network built up.

TJL: And be a great sales person.

XXX: So you've got to have that persona….?

TJL: And when you have money in the bank, persona's easy! (laugh)

XXX: So I coach 30 people for free and they like what I'm doing…. They start telling their friends and they want me to coach them for free too. What do I do?

TJL: What you can do is tell them you charge $250 a month, but you're wiling to coach them for free for the first 90 days because you're so excited to get started working with them. That sets your rack rate. Anyone else?

XXX: Actually, I do have a job and I'm finding in order to do all the things on the list, I am completely overwhelmed. I'm feeling, at this point, I don't even want to take on more clients because I don't have time to do all of these things.

TJL: Is the stress coming from the class time?

XXX: Yes, it's just a lot of hours from class time, reading time, and so on.

TJL: I would focus mostly on having clients come quickly. I would put the clients as the priority; the more clients you have, the more likely you'll stumble on a solution for some of your other items.

XXX: That's helpful; I've been putting myself in a position of wanting to do as much as possible because I just want to move out of my job as quickly as possible.

TJL: A person can tend to get in the study-learning mode and it can become an expensive use of your time. Have your coaching be your real priority and have the research, studying and other things a subset of that. Let your clients drive your research and study - study what they need.

XXX: That's excellent; thank you.

TJL: Great; anyone else? Again, everyone's got to find their own balance in this thing. It's really about letting the client be the driver to prioritize all the things you want to work on. I think our time is about up, so thank you everyone for the time!