Have you ever had a peek at the online coaching industry? Perhaps you’ve seen a variety of coaching accounts where the primary motivation seems to be cash – to buy a superyacht, to travel to 5-star destinations, to bask in the wealth…
There may be a lot of people dressing themselves up as coaches with the sole aim of making money, but coaching isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme.
Here’s 5 key factors to help break down the coaching myth and focus on creating a genuine, successful coaching business.
Professionalism
The online coaching community often lacks credibility. There are, of course, exceptions, but there are people out there attempting to coach with no qualifications or experience, who don’t even give their clients contracts. It is so important to curate a professional space – how else can you deliver meaningful results?
Integrity
I would be lying if I said money is never a motivator; we all need our basic needs met, and we all want to provide the best for ourselves and our family. However, showing up with integrity should be at the core of what we do. If we show up for our clients with a clear understanding of who we are, what training we’ve done and what we’re going to deliver, then the murky ground of legal issues can be avoided. Clarity is essential.
Creating a Safe Place
Working as a coach is all about giving the clients a safe place where they feel ready to share their deepest thoughts and feelings. Training and experience is vital so that you can help clients enter difficult parts of the mind, knowing you have the capability to help them overcome it.
Impact over Income
This is the biggest problem I see in the online coaching community. There is nothing wrong with wanting money, but if it’s your sole motivation, how can you keep clients at the core of what you do? And if you’re constantly looking ahead to future figures rather than taking action in the present moment, how can you create that meaningful impact?
Breaking Down the Narrative
Debunking coaching myths is, at its core, all about breaking down unnecessary and unrealistic narratives and rewriting them. Instead of buying into these stories that coaching breeds wealth, that all you need is a laptop and a social media account, we must dig deeper and learn from those who have succeeded authentically.
The coaching industry does sometimes feel like all anyone cares about is making millions, but when we scratch underneath the surface, we’ll see that it is fuelled by people who actually do want to make a difference. When we are part of the wonderful side of the industry – the side that helps others, drives lasting change and really, truly cares, that’s when we get the best out of it. And if we deliver a great service and help our clients transform, surely that’s more important than any amount of money in the bank.