What do you do if you're an executive coach looking to advance your career?

A mentor who has navigated a similar path can provide guidance, advice, and support as you aim to advance your career. Investing in your own coach can help you clarify your career aspirations, overcome obstacles, and develop strategies for growth. Regularly assess your coaching practice, identify areas for improvement, and refine your approach based on feedback and self-observation. Engage in coaching peers with less experience. Contribute to updating knowledge by conducting research or writing articles and books on coaching. This can help establish you as an expert in your field.

For new executive coaches, starting broad instead of focusing on a specific industry may be beneficial, as pinpointing a niche often comes with experience. Initially, staying versatile allows them to explore different areas, gain a variety of experiences, and eventually discern where their strengths can best serve clients. Over time, as they accumulate knowledge and expertise, honing in on a niche can elevate their practice and distinguish them within the coaching field.

What are you good at? What are the areas you have helped your clients? What are you known as? These questions can help you with understanding your uniqueness which you can start positioning.

There are so many opportunities with executive leadership. Build an elevator speech to market yourself in how you want to interact in the field and what your experience lends to success. A clear marketing plan will build the following want to attract. This will naturally create a niche that we can continue to market more clearly as we gain further experience.

-Evaluate advice judiciously. -Avoid hastily choosing a niche. -Be open to multiple opportunities before selecting a niche that aligns with your values. -Consider the financial aspects and client base within your niche to develop a product and offer that are both advantageous and viable. Diverse experiences facilitate understanding of your preferences and areas of impact.

Brand building is important and with social media you get a quick start. Make sure to target your audience with the right content and regularity. This will help you stand separate from others in the crowd.

Creating a brand for coaches is like making a magnet that pulls in the right people. Like a coach who works with women tech leaders - their brand tells people exactly what they do and who they help. It helps the right people find them, like a lighthouse guiding ships to the shore. Having a clear brand is like having a good map that points the coach and the clients in the right direction. One should choose the most appropriate channel as against spreading oneself thin. For executive coaching, Linkedin is perhaps the best place to show up.

A marketing plan is a great way to understand what you want your brand to be and be consistent in your messaging. Find the things that give you joy in your field, ways you are feeling connected to your clients, and where you successes are. Then identify, how do you want to passively provide this value to others. This is a great place to start in understanding what your brand is.

Networking is really important for executive coaches - it’s like opening doors to new chances and ways to get better. For example, they could go to a coach meeting and learn about new ways to help clients. By chatting with other coaches on the internet or in local groups, they can swap ideas on tackling difficult situations. They could even start a team project with another coach, or get recommended to new clients. So, networking is like filling a toolbox with new tricks to help coaches do their job even better.

Networking is a big component to executive coaching. We must always be willing to be open to learn new things. Networking, is a way to gain knowledge and build a following for future clients. Use networking as a way to expand in multiple ways beyond contacts.

A coaching certificate is just like getting a big qualification, like being a Chartered Accountant. If you get your certificate from a well-known group like the International Coach Federation (ICF), it can help people trust you more, especially if your clients are big companies. The process of getting your certificate makes sure you're good at guiding people, keeping an eye on progress, and always doing the right thing. Plus, you keep learning new things along the way. This is why having a coaching certificate is really important for a coach. Peer coaching and coaching supervision are also key investments for a coach as these also help with networking.,

I believe investing in one's own development is one most significant prerequisite of being a valuable coach, and to guarantee sustainable and reputable business. Advancing studies and gaining more knowledge is great if you are also practicing what you're learning. Certification processes may offer both at the same time together with mentor coaching and I find this very effective. Developing yourself as a coach, may become a life style and even positively addictive, as you see the increase ?n your quality of life- and that is part of walking the talk. Reading books, being inspired by different approaches, devoting yourself to a credentialing path of ICF are all invaluable ways to develop as an executive coach.

The best coaches have someone who also coaches them. This allows them to self reflect in a safe space. The other advantage is that when you're being coached, you get to experience what your clients might be experiencing, and make adjustments where necessary. Belong to a Coaching Association which requires strict Continued Professional Development and coach supervision. This will keep you honest and committed to your Development, whilst meeting other amazing people in your industry.

Coaching should be an ongoing exercise in continuing education. The learning should never stop. Be intentional about the focus of your learning, and specialize in an area that can solve a trending challenge in business. Then actively seek a credential from a well-respected entity like ICF. Most Fortune 500 organizations and professional organizations require them.

A coaching practice that is successful is essentially a content strategy: speaking, facilitating, writing books and developing other learning content like courses, memberships, group coaching and masterminds--all of them are funnels for the core coaching practice and vice versa. Once you solidify your positioning as a practitioner, it should be very simple to create an ecosystem that produces an array of income streams.

When you're able to identify a group of people with common coaching needs, group coaching is the best way to do it. You can run different cohorts & develop a number of topics to cover over the coaching program - 3, 6, 9, 12 months programme. You can also do a combo - group session and followed by a one-on-one to delve deeper. Lookout for key events + conferences in your industry, reach out to organizers. Speaking fee should include 1) Preparation time 2) travel time 3) Briefing session (if any) and 3) presentation time. Many struggle to set a price, but you can literally set a fee per delegate attending. You can also grow your practice by hiring employees who will do the coaching full time. And service bigger clients.

In addition to continuous learning, networking and collaboration, I believe that it’s important to reflect on your progress and journey, ensure that you are still passionate and knowledgeable about your niche and the needs of your clients. Create a clear SMART goals in how you are going to grow, advance as a Executive Coach. Leverage technology and digitalization. You can grow from being a local, regional coach to a global coach. You could also expand your Niche to grow. Make sure you also have a mentor, someone who can offer you some advice and feedback. Lastly, keep your certification up to date!

In my experience, a coach who is coached by someone else gets an opportunity to reflect on their goals. These sessions keep us honest and accountable for our goals. Use online tools to measure your financial performance and make informed business decisions. The biggest KPI for a coach is their recoverability rate - total hours billed/hours clocked in that month. If you work 8 hours a day, you have about 160 hours a month to do coaching. That's it! You ideally want to minimise the time you spend on admin & reporting. Use technology effectively. Hire an assistant, ASAP! Remember, the more hours you spend coaching, the closer you get to wearing that Black Belt in Executive Coaching.??

Find a Senior Executive coach to give your Executive Coaching some Executive coaching. Make sure you qualify who that Senior Executive Coach has as their Executive Senior Executive Coach to make sure their Coaching style aligns with your Coaches style of Coaching with your style of being Coached, Executively.

Living the principle of 'life-long learning'. And I do not necessarily mean obtaining new certifications, though it may be that too, but also deepening my learning, testing out and experimenting with new and old methods, and ultimately molding them to mine. Doing a dance between my client's needs and what I can offer, so that I will always be able to help those who feel on the same wavelength with me.

Engage a supervisor to help you see what you might not otherwise see. Supervision allows for developmental conversations which will support your development as a coach and your advancement towards your career goals. Ensure that your supervisor is appropriately qualified to be able to add value to your coaching practices.

Feedback and testimonials are essential for advancing your career as an executive coach. They provide insights into coaching effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and build credibility. Positive testimonials attract clients, showcasing your expertise. Actively seeking feedback strengthens relationships and fosters growth. Additionally, exploring opportunities to deepen services with current clients can further propel your career.