Hi everyone. And welcome to episode one of the business of executive coaching. So today I have a short episode for you about a harsh truth that I wish every coach knew during their coach training. And that is that loving coaching isn't enough. So when I speak to executive and leadership coaches, I generally ask them what made them decide to be a coach.
I want to know their story. And there are some themes that emerge. So one of the themes is that coaches were leaders of teams in organizations and they really loved that aspect, that aspect of their role. So they love the coaching, they love the leadership. They may not have loved the technical aspects of their role as much.
They may not have loved the organizational politics of their, of their role. Another theme is that they may have done some coach training and really loved it and they wanted to explore it more. Another theme is that they sort of heard from people who knew them well and knew their strengths and talents, and who told them that they should consider coaching because they think that they would be really good at it.
And then the final theme that I've noticed is that they're. Coaches may have been working through a number of roles that were connected to people, but couldn't quite find the right fit, so they were looking for the right role. And sometimes it's all of these things, and it probably was for me. But almost all coaches want to help people.
They want to make a difference and they love the hands on doing of the work of coaching. So they get a lot of enjoyment by being face to face one on one with their clients. They also generally want to have a positive impact on their coaches and beyond. So they want to impact organizations. They want to have a positive impact on the world.
Generally there is this sense of helping and impact and growth. And that's a really important part of who we are as a coach. Although all of you who are coaches will know over leveraging that helping side can actually be, to our detriment in coaching because it can lead to us, wanting to hold and, and solve and, take problems away from our coaches, which we know is not necessarily the goal, but that's not my point.
Coaches love to help want to be hands on want to make a positive impact. So this was totally me, like all of these things I really relate to. And, you know, I got into coaching because I knew someone, a wonderful mentor who thought that I would really love coaching and she was totally right. So I'd been training as a psychotherapist alongside my day job.
And I knew that I wanted to make a difference to individuals. I wanted to help people. And that was sort of there. The only you know, I hadn't really clarified it any further at that point. And, and to be honest, I still have that part of me, that desire to help and to, to want to make a difference. But when I found coaching, I found a much better fit for me than a psychotherapy.
I really enjoyed the solution oriented nature. I really enjoyed playing in the complexity of organizations. So, you know, corporate executive and leadership coaching, that's my, my jam and working within the evidence base and the academic approach to coaching really appealed to me. And as my career unfolded as a coach, you know, interestingly, I did go back to some of the psychodynamic approaches that I'd learned in my psychotherapy training, but I would say overall, I'm a much better coach than I would have been therapist.
Anyway, my point is that we're coaches, we love helping, we love coaching, we want to make a difference. We want to do good in the world and you know, gosh darn it, we have so much to give. But this is the point where if I had a podcast editor, I would edit in the sound of a record scratching because there's some really crappy news.
And that news is that a drive to help and make a difference and a love of the coaching work we do is basically useless. If we don't know how to sell our services and if we can't build the engine of a business to keep us afloat, does that sound harsh? It might be. But I think it's true and I think it's important.
And I think if we knew that in the earliest days of our coaching, that. Life and business will be better all around. So when I say we can't just focus on coaching and we need to focus on our business as well. I'm not just talking about the commercial aspects and short selling your services means revenue, which means you get paid so you can pay your bills.
And that is the basics. Very important basics, but when I talk about the need to prioritize our business, I also mean things like, do you have systems in place so that you aren't reinventing the wheel every time you have to send an invoice or track a client engagement? Do you have your finances under control?
Can you read your profit and loss statement? Do you understand your cashflow? Are you appropriately insured? Do you get help when you need it from an EA or a bookkeeper or, you know, with childcare? Do you have a plan for marketing? Do you have a plan for selling? Do you have a clear boundary of what work you will and won't say yes or no to?
So there is a point for executive coaches when you face a decision and you need to decide that you are willing to invest your time, energy, and sometimes money into the business vehicle that will allow you to do this work that you love. And that will make a difference in the world if you do it sustainably.
So Ben Hardy, he's the author of Be Yourself, Your Future, Be Your Future Self Now, and the co author of many other books, including recently 10X is Easier Than 2X. And on a sidebar, I really need to talk about these books with someone because the concepts are really compelling, but there are some slightly problematic parts of them.
So if anyone's read these books, please send me a message so we can talk about it. But anyway, Ben Hardy talks about. How entrepreneurs and business owners often have this point of no return. When we actually commit to building this thing, there's a point where we are all in that we are committed to our business baby.
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you don't have financial strategies like part time work or consulting or something else, but it's the point at which we decide. This is it for us. And it's not in theory, but in practice, we are doing it and we're going to make it work. And we're, we're in, and that includes saying I'm committed, not just to the fun parts and the bits that I enjoy, like the actual coaching, but I'm committed to embracing the business and I'm committed to embracing.
The platform that will allow me to do this work that is my meaning and does provide that sense of purpose to me. So loving coaching is not enough. A passion for coaching needs to be balanced with business best practices. Right? Because we want you in this for the long run. The stats from the ICF about coaches who start a business and then give it up within only a couple of years are astonishing.
A very significant proportion of coaches who think they're going to run a coaching practice end up. Not being able to sustain it. And my hypothesis is they are not investing in the business platform that will allow them to do the work. So it's one of my passions to make sure that coaches of all levels of experience are invested in their business and are learning about business and us finding the joy in business, not only to grow it, but also to live.
A life that they want to live, right? Where, where their business is serving their needs and where it is a joyful part of their life and is serving it accordingly. So if you want to learn a little bit more about my tools and the mentoring I do around coaching businesses as part of the launch of my community, the impact coach collective, I'm running a free webinar on.
Thursday, the 22nd of February, and it's called how to build a corporate coaching offer that sells in this webinar, I'm going to share how a corporate coaching offer might differ from an individual coaching offer, what inclusions you should consider and the documents and collateral that you need to present it in a compelling and professional way.
If you'd like to join me live and it will also be recorded, of course, you can register at elliescarf.com/offersthatsell. Now just in case you don't know how to spell my name, that is E L L I E S C A R F. com forward slash offers that sell.
