How I kick-started my business by giving my product away for free

I want to thank my coaching guinea pigs.

When I started my business, I invited 40 friends and former colleagues to accept one hour of free coaching.

These were people I knew, liked and trusted (I hoped they felt the same about me!)

Their responses were interesting in so many different ways:

- A financial person said: “I’m not a good listener”

- An investment analyst said: “I’m too old for that sort of thing”

- A friend I coached rugby with (sons in the same team), thought I was a personal trainer and wanted a free workout

- Some said: “No thanks, it’s not my thing” without elaborating

- One was busy getting divorced, another doing up a house in France, a third stacked with work, and a fourth writing a book

- Some people said yes and then didn’t respond to book a slot

- Others turned up on the day but didn’t want to engage

- Quite a few didn’t reply at all - I speculated as to why, but didn’t ask, as they obviously?weren’t connecting

- Two said yes, and then said no!

- 22 (55%) agreed to be coached. What a great response!

- Two became paying clients (I know others want to, they are just waiting for the right time!)

To everyone who helped me, thank you. You got my new business off to a flying start.

What did I learn from the exercise?

- People are generous. You may be surprised at the support you can get from friends and colleagues when you are starting out in anything.

- It was a great confidence booster. (Hey, people want to be coached by me!)

- Not everyone wants to be coached - even when it’s free - for a variety of reasons. (Knowing this will be helpful to deal with rejection in the future).

- Some people don’t have any issues

- Similarly, not everyone strives to improve or wants to change.

- Some people will be sceptical about your abilities and the value of coaching - a fair point.

- Some, perhaps a lot, don’t actually know what coaching is, and they don’t understand what’s on offer. One for the coaching industry to address?

I coached my 22 guinea pigs (some of them more than once) on weight loss, mindfulness, career change, relaxation, what to do in retirement, and many other fascinating human challenges. The feedback was positive and I hope I made a difference, which is what it is all about.

With their help I hit my target of 50 practice coaching sessions in three months. I have a Royal Navy Leadership Academy Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring, but this was real world training, and you just can’t beat it.?It left me more certain than ever that coaching is truly my thing.

#coaching?#learning?#practice?#generosity?#thankyou

What is coaching and how do you define it?

Putting it into words is harder than it looks.

My conclusion was that it’s easier to explain what coaching is not, rather than what it is.

NOT THERAPY. Although sometimes coaching can look to the past to understand context, it is not a place where the conversation stays, or should stay for very long.

Coaching is about moving forward and looking at what will happen differently in the future

It should be a positive experience, not one that gets mired in difficulties from the past.

NOT CONSULTING. Consultants tell people, usually business people, what they should do, and probably already know what they should do, with their business.

They give actionable advice and they can also get involved in the implementation of projects.

A pure coach wouldn’t do either of those things.

NOT MENTORING. Mentors are experienced in a particular role and they look over the shoulder of a new person in that role, guiding them with the way things work, and showing them the ropes.

They will be involved in training and sometimes tell the mentee where they go wrong. A coach would never do that.

NOT SPORTS COACHING. Managing athletes or sports teams is not the same as life or business coaching.

Sports coaching is mostly directive, with coaches involved in team selection, setting training routines and targets and telling athletes and players what is expected of them.

The similarities with life coaching relate to motivation.

NOT TRAINING. Training is usually a clearly defined transfer of knowledge, skills, techniques or approaches to handling a task in a formal way, set out in advance and taught to an individual or group.

Like consulting it’s directive, which coaching is not.

It’s tempting to say that everything that’s left over is coaching but that would be inadequate.

Here’s my take:?

Coaching is a process of having someone help you come up with the answer to your problems, issues and challenges.?

And by problems, issues and challenges, I don’t just mean negative things, but things like “what would you really like to be good, or better at” and how would you like to grow?

This isn’t just any old help. It’s laser focused on your best interests and how to maximise them. I like to think of coaching as providing me with an extra brain, plugged in and dedicated to working 100% on me to the exclusion of everything else.

What’s your take?

#coaching?#training?#consulting?#mentoring?#therapy

Just chopping wood

When my head's buzzing with work questions, (including what to post on LinkedIn), chopping wood is one of the things I do. At first I was next to useless, but my splitting technique has slowly improved. You have to concentrate hard to hit just the right spot, and come down vertical. You can't be thinking about anything else. Clears the head, and nothing beats the sound of a perfect split. So satisfying! What do you do to clear your head??#choppingwood?#mindfulness