Prosperous Coach Podcast

This episode is inspired by an excellent question posted by two coaches in my Facebook group called Prosperous Coach Club. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/148

Before we dig into this, let’s get on the same page ...

What is a Smart Coaching Niche?

To me, a smart coaching niche has 3 clear components:

1. One unique viable target audience full of seekers – people who want to grow personally and professionally and are actively seeking solutions. Without this, it’s hard to have a successful niche.

2. A strategic coaching business model built around what that audience urgently wants and the BIG problem that’s in their way. If you don’t know what will motivate investment for your audience you don't have a robust enough niche to earn well.

3. Your skills and talents applied to those other two things. This is more than just coaching skills. This is bringing forward all the skills and maybe even expertise that will make you credible to your audience – something that help you relate to them and them relate to you.

A coaching niche is weak if one of more of those things is missing or not solid enough so it’s worth it to take the time to develop a niche fully.

And let me just stop the worries here ... everyone has skills to bring to the table. I’ve never worked professionally with a coach that didn't have options for their niche based on the sum total of who they are.

It’s good to remember that coaching is a business and you need to operate in the marketplace.

What do I mean by that? Your business needs to be more than selling coaching services.
Unless you don’t need to earn, you need to frequently grab the attention of and enroll clients who pay you well. That’s not a casual thing for the long run. It’s totally doable and some strategy is needed.

One Coaching Business for One Well-Formed Niche

I encourage my clients to develop one business built for the long term around one well-formed niche.

Why limit it? Well, because two niches may very well feel like having two businesses, which is like having two full time jobs. No one really wants that.

It comes down to what you can handle effectively. You may be able to do many things at once but is that the best life to live? Why not build a business that’s sustainable for the long run?

You might start out with two niches but somewhere along the way one will get more attention and the other will suffer unless there is some way to leverage the two. So let’s talk about those possibilities.

Two Different Audiences for Your Coaching

Targeting two distinctly different audiences is not a good idea unless the two audiences are related in some easy way.

To read the full transcript including 4 circumstances where two niches could work for you, go here.

Thank you!

• Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence.
• For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call.
• Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.

This episode is about a mindset shift that could free up mental blocks you might have about choosing or sticking with a specific niche. Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/150

The two concerns I hear most from coaches about choosing a narrow audience and developing a unique niche to serve them are:

1. “But I don't want to exclude anyone.”

2. "But if I limit myself to a particular track — such as career coaching, business coaching or relationship coaching — I won’t get to do life coaching."

I’ll talk in another podcast soon about the exclusion worry. Let’s tackle this life coaching concern.

Coaching is Coaching

First, repeat after me ... coaching is coaching. The skills of coaching are the same no matter what topic you coach around or target audience you serve.

Listening on many levels, asking powerful questions, mirroring what your client said back to them — all those excellent skills and more are the same no matter who you’re coaching or what you’re coaching about.

But also, it’s really critical to realize that all coaching IS life coaching.

Whether you are a business coach, relationship coach, health coach, career coach or some other fill-in-the-blank coach, you are essentially a life coach.

If you’ve chosen a track it’s to help you focus and create a sustainable business. And you might have expertise or experience to apply to that particular territory of life — business, career, relationships or health.

All Coaches Should Specialize

But calling yourself a life coach or specializing in life coaching might not serve you well because it’s non-specific. Life includes everything.

Helping everyone about everything might seem wonderful or a relief to you but if you don’t specialize you might seem like a hobbyist rather than a business owner. You might lose credibility.

Also, it can affect your income. A few years ago statistics showed that coaches who specialize earn at least 40% more than those that do not.

I always encourage coaches towards specificity in everything. The more specific you are in your target audience, niche, messaging and offers the better it will be for you. When you specify everything you’ll find it easier to attract and enroll a client.

Why?

Because broad language that tries to be all encompassing doesn’t grab attention. Let me illustrate the value of specificity.

Which of these messages attracts you more?

I help people succeed and be happy.

or

I help coaches earn more and market less by choosing a highly profitable niche they’ll love.

I don’t know any coach who would respond more positively to the first message over the second. That’s because, as a coach, you want certain things, you have certain challenges. And when I speak of those certain things it piques your interest.

You want to earn m

Thank you!

• Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence.
• For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call.
• Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.

This episode is super short and inspired by the saboteur in all of us who keeps us from greatness. Find the full transcript and links to related episodes at prosperouscoach.com/145.

You remember Superman — the dude who could do anything and seemed unstoppable except when he encountered Kryptonite. That green crystal weakened Superman so he was powerless.

Your coaching business kryptonite is something you avoid. It’s the thing that keeps you from your super power.

You want to coach for a living. You want to help people achieve and transform. And you want to earn well at this so you don’t have to work at someone else’s company on someone else’s goals with their rules.

So what’s your kryptonite in your coaching business? It could be something deeply personal and unique to you.
I’ve said this before ... a recurring lesson for me is about personal power. When I stand firm in my personal power and do what’s right for me with integrity everything in my business works better.

There might be something like that for you. It trips you up time and again. I can tell you it’s a great opportunity for you to put your awareness on that thing and evolve.

Your kryptonite could be about making a decision. Here are 2 decisions that, left unmade, will hold you back from starting much less achieving success in your coaching business:

1. Choosing a narrow and viable audience of seekers to serve. It’s the first big decision that could make or break your time as a coach. But that’s not to say that there’s only one right decision for you. Sometimes it’s about making the decision not what the decision is that keeps you stuck.

2. Building your niche around helping them solve their big problem that’s in the way of their big goal.

Or your kryptonite could be situational. You come to a moment that requires something of you and you’re stopped in your tracks. Here are three things ...

1. Inviting prospects to work with you. Or maybe not. Some clients will hire you outright. Some people need to be asked. If you don’t ask, they might not decide.

2. Charging enough with clients so you can earn well. This is big kryptonite, guys. If it’s not faced, it will keep your business floundering. Find my episode about this at prosperouscoach.com/82

3. Putting out valuable content every week to stay in front of your audience. This is often what it takes to get noticed in the online world. And if you operate off line then it may be about setting up meetings regularly or networking.

Its usually fear or lack of know-how that keeps you from moving forward with confidence to the next step. I help my clients move past both.

Your kryptonite could be about smaller moments in time:

1. Asking for testimonials. I failed to do

Thank you!

• Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence.
• For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call.
• Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.

If I’ve learned anything from life it’s that simple is better. Less is more. And that’s true when it comes to staying organized in your coaching business. Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/149

I happen to be one of the most organized people I know. But I wasn’t always like that.

I also used to be a lousy money manager.

I also used to be hopeless at writing.

I also used to suck at managing people.

So, no matter what you think you’re hopeless at now, you can change that. You can grow into whoever you want to be and however you want to live your life.

What changed those things for me? First, I stopped telling myself what I’m no good at.

The harsh way you talk to yourself is the main habit to stop. You’ll be so glad you did. It’s a life skill. If I can do it, you can do it.

Now try this ... every time you think you’re not good at something get curious.

Curiosity is a powerful game changer. It quiets the amygdala – the part of your brain associated with fear. And then, attention and creativity take over.

When you explore something with curiosity, dopamine — the reward chemical — floods your body and you feel good. And then you can easily get past the “way it used to be”.

So, get organized coaches. It feels good. And it will mean you can serve clients better while you earn more.

Template Everything You Can in Your Coaching Business

This is my secret weapon against the limits of time. Everything that can be templated in my business is templated.

For example, I have a template for my Session Recap for clients. Of course, it’s customized where it needs to be within the template so it’s valuable for both of us.

I have a template for typical responses to prospects’ questions. But that’s doesn’t mean they don’t come across as personalized. They do.

I template processes. I have a 15-page Word document with 15 different processes I take my clients through in my Signature Program so I can cut and paste them into emails as we go along. My clients always say – I love how fast you respond. Part of it is about the templates.

I also have pre-made guides for my clients to save us time in session.

So ask yourself ...

What can be templated now to save me time later?

And then be sure you create a place where it’s easy to find and use the templates. Me? I have a folder in my email for Templates.

Prep for Tomorrow and Next Week

This may seem basic but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t do this.

Prep tomorrow today. Prep for next week at the end of this week.

I have a master to-do list with 2 categories – Personal and Business. And it has tasks that need to be done soon and later. I pull from the master to-do list to partially create my plan for tomorrow and for next week.

But here’s the secret – my daily to-do list is super short. No more than 3 things. If I have extra time after completing the 3 things, I’ll pick from the Master list tasks that will fit the time I have open.

Ask yourself ...

What must be done tomorrow?

What must be done next week?

What

Thank you!

• Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence.
• For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call.
• Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.

Today’s episode is inspired by a sticky question. Do you really need to be certified in order to say that you're a professional coach? Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/147

It's a sticky question because there are two camps — the yeas and nays — and both have strong opinions.

I say ... whether you certify or not is your decision.

2 Types of Coach Certification

1. Certifying through a coach training organization. You enroll, complete training and certify through a review process when training is complete.

2. Independent certification such as through the International Coach Federation (ICF). You work towards it by completing requirements and paying an application fee. You'll need a certain number of hours of paid coaching, completed training with an accredited organization, and being mentored by people who are certified at the master level.

To maintain or advance ICF certification you have to re-up every few years and also take continuing education courses. It's a significant ongoing investment in time and money.

By the way, the ICF and other certifying bodies often change requirements for the various levels of certification. So, if you're on route to certify, stay in touch with the requirements so you're not blindsided by changes.

Independent certification helps to mature emerging fields and garner acceptance in the marketplace. ICF launched in 1995, when life coaching was a new concept, and now has a presence in 140 countries and over 30,000 members.

There is a segment of the coaching industry that will firmly say YES, that you must be certified to be considered a professional coach. I've softened on this over the years, which I’ll cover more later.

5 Main Reasons Proponents Give to Independently Certify

Reason #1 Coaches who certify are more likely to earn more and not drop out of the profession.

Reason #2 Certification distinguishes you from all the people who co-opt the term 'coach' but who have not been rigorously trained.

Reason #3 Maintaining certification requires you to stay in tune with best practices.

I'll chime in here. Independent certification does not necessarily mean you'll earn more.

Your income as a coach largely depends on your chosen target audience, how you charge for your offers and your ability to market and enroll.

Reason #4 The public will perceive you as being a more skilled coach if you're certified.

Reason #5 Your clients will require it.

Credibility largely depends on how you conduct yourself. And most clients do not require or even know about certification.

In my 20 years in the industry, none of my potential or actual clients has ever asked me if I was certified.

And, I've checked recently with experienced coaches. We agree that for most niches the client does not require or even ask about certification.

The Bottom Line About Certifying As a Coach

If you go into the executive or leadership coaching track where you'll provide services to people within corporations, coaches that are ICF certif

Thank you!

• Rhonda Hess helps new coaches leverage their zone of genius into a profitable coaching niche and launch with confidence.
• For VIP step-by-step support apply for Rhonda's VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough Program here and she'll be in touch to invite you a discovery call.
• Or if you're stuck on your coaching niche, grab a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session with Rhonda here.