Business advice that doesn't work when you're a coach, but not a business coach

If you’re a leadership coach, life coach or someone who mentors working professionals - you might share the frustrations I experienced as a coach who was serving clients who weren’t businesses owners.

We idolise business coaches in the coaching world (I’ve been a huge fan of Amy Porterfield, Marie Forleo and Ruby Lee). But I often felt this pang of frustration when key parts of their advice didn’t quite work for me as a leadership coach serving women working in corporate.

Can you relate?

?? SOCIAL MEDIA

The common advice: Share your day-to-day. It’s a great way for your audience to see the success / freedom you’ve created in your life and want a piece of that too.

BUT what if your lifestyle isn’t what your audience aspires to??

Here I was, totally thrilled I could take the afternoon off just because it was sunny outside, but the women I was coaching worked 9-5 and aspired to get promoted to C-Suite positions.

Sharing my day-to-day in this way wasn’t going to help me connect to the audience I wanted to attract.

?? HAVING TO SELL TWICE TO MAKE ONE SALE

The common advice: Serve powerfully during a discovery call. Once the client gets a feel for what you can do for them, it’ll be a no-brainer.

BUT often the person on the discovery call wasn’t the person who was going to pay for coaching.

Although they were mentally and emotionally committed to working with me, they were only going to do it if their manager approved funding it. I’ve lost count of the number of times both client and I were excited to work with each other, only to find that their manager said no.

Finding ways to stop wasting time on conversations like this was something they just didn’t warn me about.

?? SALES MESSAGING:

The common advice: Share your knowledge, then invite them to work with you - it’s that simple.

BUT I often felt like I wasn’t just selling my services. I was selling coaching as a concept all together.?

Most business owners are already open to the world of coaching - it’s a key part of our development because we know that no one will offer guidance unless we actively seek it. This advice works brilliantly for business coaches.

As a leadership coach for women in tech and engineering, coaching was typically reserved for board level executives, delivered by huge professional coaching organisations. Having an individual to reach out to a coach they met on Instagram and immediately understand the value of coaching wasn’t common.

What’s my point in sharing this with you??

While those famously known business coaches are hugely successful and have helped thousands of entrepreneurs make it rain ??, they still don’t know the complexities of your specific audience.

No advice will work perfectly for every single business owner.

What I did to overcome these frustrations:

1?? Reached out to those in a similar industry and level of business for advice. Joining communities full of business owners who could relate to my challenges was a game changer for me.

?? Overflow Collective, our growing community for entrepreneurs who are mothers, is a great place for you iron out your business creases. Come and join us here.?

2?? Hired a private coach who could help me find my own unique way of doing business that would work with my audience.

?? Work with me in a private container that suits your learning style. I have limited spaces for 1-off Strategy Sessions, 1-week Voxer coaching and long-term, high touch, VIP packages. DM me to enquire about availability.

3?? Allowed myself to tweak business advice I heard, even if it was really common and no matter how successful the person giving the advice was.

?? If you’re a real rule follower and have no idea how to start with breaking the rules, shoot me a DM for some friendly advice!

You CAN do life and business in a totally unconventional way AND be wildly successful at the same time.

The only person you need permission from is YOU ?

Written by Tiffany Dawson - a business mindset and strategy coach, founder of Overflow Collective and host of the Unconventional Success podcast.

Tiffany works with entrepreneurs who are mothers wishing to scale their businesses so they can achieve time and financial freedom and create a lifestyle where they can be present (both physically and mentally) for their families.

Connect with Tiff if you haven't already and send her a message to tell her what you took away from this article. She can't wait to hear from you.