Do you feel like it’s time for your talent as a coach to become more than just a hobby?
Maybe you’ve been holding on to a certification or providing services as a volunteer/hobbyist coach, but you’re now considering starting your own business.
The question then becomes, “Where do I start?”
I’m sure as you’ve researched this question, you’ve been bombarded with information. There are countless tips, tricks, and most of them are gimmicky or repeating the advice of thousands of other articles.
But this post isn’t going to tell you to “write a book” or “build a website” as your first steps in becoming an entrepreneur.
We’re going to address the real first steps in starting a life coaching business, that that are easily highlighted for you in the Thriving Coaching Business checklist.
If you’re ready to play full out, let’s get started.
Things to Consider If You’re Thinking of Becoming an Entrepreneur
Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
In order to have courage in pursuing what you want in life, there needs to be some level of confidence.
That being said, if you’re thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, here are a few things to check off your list before jumping into the deep end.
1. Identify a problem you’re passionate about solving.
Where is there a need or a gap in the industry/market you’re a part of? As a life coach, think about the type of transformation you’d love to help your clients achieve to guide this decision.
2. Get clear on your idea.
Your imagination is powerful, use it to build your vision. Be as specific and clear as possible about the services you’ll offer, the promise you make for your clients, and even the goals you have for yourself!
By taking the time to research and study into those four elements, you’ll have more direction and clarity as you build your life coaching business!
3. Get familiar with your audience.
Who will you serve, why do they need it, and what will their life look like without the service you offer? And once you know what your audience would love, how do you deliver on your promise and solve their pain points?
4. Invest in a Mentor.
If your dream requires you to grow, you’re on the right track. One of the most crucial paths to success is seeking mentorship. I encourage you to check testimonials and ensure that the mentor you choose has active and recent evidence of their success.
More importantly, check for alignment. Is your mentor living in the results you would love for yourself?
5) Start Small & Grow Bigger.
When starting a new business, one of the most common mistakes people make is trying to do too much too fast.
When you’re starting out, I recommend focusing on getting the basics right before adding anything else.
For example, if you’re wondering whether you should be investing time in developing your program or jumping right into enrolling clients, ask yourself:
“Would it be best to focus on setting up sales calls or finding a coaching curriculum that provides real transformation to your clients first?”
I encourage you to reflect on which decision provides the most long-term benefits and offers the most value to your clients.
And remember: no matter how small the action, baby steps will still lead you up Mt. Everest.
6) Expand your Education and Skills.
If the last five elements have you scratching your head, you’re not the first to feel overwhelmed or confused. It takes time, tenacity, and resiliency to make it on your own – but it’s not impossible.
However, if you’re interested in skipping beginner mistakes and taking an accelerated path to success, you could save time and money with a coaching certification program. Since not all programs are built the same, I encourage you to find a program that matches your values, supports your goals, and has a proven track-record producing results.
By providing the most advanced business-building systems, we help life coaches start, sustain, and scale successful businesses. All of our systems have been carefully tested and fine-tuned by our expert faculty and packaged to make it as easy as possible for you to use.
In addition, our coaching certification program teaches you more than coaching skills. Our faculty guides you through every aspect of starting and operating a profitable, impactful life coaching business – everything from billing to best practices to scaling.
What are the common barriers to becoming an entrepreneur?
Whether this is your first attempt to start your own coaching business or one of many, I want to encourage you that failing at your attempts doesn’t mean that coaching isn’t great after all.
It also doesn’t mean that you’re doing it all wrong.
It’s about deciding that your dream is more important than failure that will help you challenge limiting beliefs and take action towards success!
To Become a Successful Entrepreneur, You Must Challenge Your Beliefs
If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, then you must challenge long-held beliefs that may be holding you back. There are a lot of thinking patterns and limiting beliefs that are rooted in your childhood, school, media, and other critical influences.
These limiting paradigms keep you locked into your comfort zone and dissuade, distract, and delay you from taking action towards your dream.
Therefore, the key to success on your entrepreneurial journey is about thinking and acting outside of your comfort zone. When you allow yourself to release the how and focus on your dream, it results in a paradigm shift that opens up unlimited possibilities.
Let’s begin with how you think about money as a life coach.
Overcoming Money Paradigms as an Entrepreneur
One of the most common money paradigms I see among life coaches who are considering entrepreneurship is that they believe “It’s wrong to take money to help people.”
This is a mindset that focuses on money as the end result. When really, life coaching is about the results your clients will create while working with you.
And people love to invest in results.
If you think about it, in any business sector, people get paid lots of money for results!
So, I challenge you to consider how valuable it is for someone to create a life they love.
People work with coaches to hold their feet to the fire and help them achieve what might otherwise be impossible to do on their own. Life coaches accelerate results and create lifelong transformation for their clients.
Clients who are ready and willing to live their dreams will see the opportunity to work with you as an opportunity. And by “getting to work with you”, it’s not about “taking” their money.
It’s about your clients putting skin in the game and taking their dreams seriously.
Trust Yourself & Play Full Out with an Entrepreneurial Mindset
You’re not alone in your experiences with imposter syndrome, the voice of your inner critic, and pressure from external factors and influences.
But the truth is you are more powerful and contain more potential than any of your circumstances, situations, or conditions.
This doesn’t mean you won’t ever feel down or have to pretend your emotions don’t exist.
You can have these mistakes, failures, and other negative experiences without those experiences having you!
Successful Entrepreneurs Visualize their Goals
Everything is created twice. First in thought, then in form.
This is called “the results formula” and it goes like this:
Thoughts > Feelings > Actions > Results
What most people don’t know is that your thoughts carry a vibration. Collectively, those vibrations create a frequency that attracts “like things” into your life.
So, when you think about lack and scarcity, you attract more of the same negative experiences into your life. But if you’re thinking on a frequency of abundance, you’ll also attract more abundance in your life.
Your vision is the blueprint for your success. It’s where you get clarity around what you’re meant to accomplish.
That’s why your vision is one of the foundational elements in our coaching certification program here at the Brave Thinking Institute. This is especially true when you’re just starting out! And after training thousands of successful coaches for over a decade, we believe it’s a non-negotiable element to any profitable, sustainable life coaching business.
Life Coaching Business Resources for Entrepreneurs
If you’ve gotten this far, I have a good feeling you’re serious about taking the next step in becoming an entrepreneur. The transition may seem daunting at first, but with the right process, system, and mentorship, you’ll be on your way to success faster than figuring it all out on your own.
Remember that the real first steps in your entrepreneurial journey are all about your mindset. Without the right energetic foundation, it’ll be much easier to stop short of reaching success. Let’s recap:
- Get specific about the “what” and release the “how”.
- Take risks and learn from your failures (you can learn how to avoid the most common costly mistakes here).
- Align your thoughts, feelings, and actions around your intended vision.
- Invest time in asking questions, creating, and networking.
- Embrace the baby steps and stay focused.
If you’re interested in becoming an entrepreneur, there are many resources available to you. But those resources tend to be scattered in so many different places.
So, if you’d love a one-stop shop for building a sustainable, profitable life coaching business, I invite you to download our free resource: The Thriving Coaching Business Checklist.
Inside, you’ll discover how to create positive change as a coach, building an ethical coaching business, and how to structure it for success right out the gate.
To building a business you love and nothing less,
John Boggs
I am interested in becoming a life coach. I want to speak to someone. The best time I have available for this meeting is after 6:00 PM Mon -Thurs.
We are so thrilled for you and all the coaching clients whose lives you will help transform, Kenrick. One of our Program Experts will reach out to you shortly by email. Celebrating you!