July 16 marked my one-year anniversary of owning my own coaching business. July 15, 2013 was my last day in the corporate world. I was ready to break free of the golden handcuffs and share what I love to share most….helping people discover new habits for health and productivity, while helping them kick ass in their life! Here's some things I've learned in the last year and how it applies to clients:
- Hire a coach. This isn't a sales pitch to hire me (although if we're a good fit, let's get crackin'!). Had I hired a coach in the beginning, I would have had a better focus and direction of what I wanted to do and how to do it. I'm a smart cookie, but I wouldn't know the first thing about running a bakery. If you are overwhelmed, stressed, overweight and underplayed, whatever you are doing now and have tried in the past isn't working for ya. Hire a coach for a new perspective.
- Surround yourself with other business owners. I joined a Business Network International group and have really benefited from hearing the successes and not-so-much-successes of the people I have met. They have been supportive and given advice when I needed it. Surround yourself with people who are healthy and productive. If you're the healthiest or most productive out of the people you know, find others to elevate yourself to so you don't get lazy.
- Unlock the door. I can spend all day reading, listening to teleseminars and watching videos on how to do email marketing, a 90-day marketing plan and connect with clients, but in the end, all the keys in the kingdom do nothing unless I unlock the door. Coaching only works if you are 100% committed to change. You can't change your life in a 45-minute session per week. There is work to be done in between. Unless you are an 8+ on a scale of 1-10, you aren't ready yet.
- There isn't a Coaching Success Fairy (or at least she hasn't visited me). I've written about fairies before and when I first started I thought I would get farther, faster than I did. That's my high self-confidence but also my confidence in what I'm able to do with my clients. If all I got to do all day was work with clients that would be a dream job, but there is no fairy doing my blog posts, internet marketing and email campaigns. You're not going to change a habit overnight because you didn't create it overnight. It's also easy to forget your small wins and the work to get there. No one is going to change your behavior for you. Just because your health and productivity is better than your cubicle neighbor, next-door neighbor or seat-mate, doesn't mean that you're in the clear and living your best life.
- Don't lose sight of the reason you are doing it. I don't know a lot of people who make a ton of money in their first year of owning their own business and when I read about them, I know they aren't the norm. On the days and weeks I've made peanuts, I'd still rather be doing nothing else. I still live by my philosophy of Work Well to Play More and I want other people to be able to do it too. Always remember your ‘why'. There's a reason you want your time back, those ten pounds off, your email under control and your task list completed.
Thank you for your support in my first year of business. I look forward to continuing to connect with you, helping you Work Well, Play More and maybe even be awesome 🙂
