The Turtles Problem in Coaching

Saw this post floating around Facebook:

I've articulated my thoughts on this, on the record, in many situations. But I'll put it here for posterity.

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A student once asked his teacher, "What holds up the Earth?"

The teacher answered, "A giant turtle has the Earth on its back."

So the student asked, "Then, what's holding up the turtle?"

The teacher replied, "Another turtle."

The student, puzzled, asked, "But then, teach, what's holding up-"

The teacher cut off the student, exasperated. "Look, kid. It's turtles all the way down."

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This is a HUGE problem in the coaching industry.

Coaching isn't a fraudulent industry, but it is comprised MOSTLY of dubious practitioners. Which makes it very difficult as the consumer looking for a coach to decipher what's legit and what isn't.

Here's how you can tell:

If a business coach has never built a successful business other than coaching coaches, that's a red flag.

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It's the old,

"I'll teach you how to make a million dollars, if you give me $1000. Okay, great. Here's how you do it. Find 1000 people and tell them you can teach them how to make a million dollars, and charge them $1000. Then teach them this."

Does it work? Of course.

Is it ethical? I'm not sure. There's no real economic value being created here, no tangible contribution to the world.

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What you're looking for is a business coach who has previously built a successful pet grooming business, or a local restaurant, or an accounting firm - anything that's a legit business.

And now they're offering business coaching, relying on their experience having been successful in business, to help you succeed in your business.

That's legit.

Here's an example of the difference:

You have a pet grooming business, and it's struggling. You're looking for a business coach to help you succeed as a pet groomer.

Business Coach 1 offers to help you by coaching you through positioning, messaging, marketing, overhead, sales, etc.

Business Coach 2 tells you, "You could be making an easy 6 figures if instead of being a pet groomer, you build a coaching business teaching other struggling pet groomers how to succeed."

Can you see the difference?

Coach 2 doesn't know how to build a successful business. They only know how to build a successful coaching business.

Turtles.

But HERE is where it gets tricky.

If you're going to build a coaching business and you've never done that before, you probably do need someone to help you. Which means, you need a business coach who specializes in building a coaching business.

That's what I needed when I decided after 12+ years of being a magician and then a speaker, with a kid on the way, that I wanted a different lifestyle and coaching/consulting was one way to do it.

So I hired a business coach who specializes in helping business coaches build business coaching businesses.

The thing is, I already knew this person.

They had once been my client. I knew their process and track record from an insider's perspective, because I'd coached them on their TEDx talk years early.

Had I not known someone that I trusted already?

I have NO idea how I would have found someone that could actually help me and not simply wasted thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on the Turtles coaching scam.

All of that is to say:

Coaches can be invaluable.

Tennis coaches, marketing coaches, sales coaches, confidence coaches - people who have a specific skillset based on experience and/or formal education, who help you build the business you are already trying to build.

But be very wary of coaches who have no track record of success outside of their own coaching business.

That's not to say they can't be good or helpful. It's to say it's much more likely they're part of the turtles problem.