David Wood | Inner Firewalking

Future vs Past

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

People love their stories! They love their past, reasons, and complexities, perhaps because they validate who they think they are.

As a coach, I’m not interested in 90% of the past. I don’t want to know why you spent 5 years in an unhappy marriage or the list of complaints you have about your boss. I’m more interested in what you want, and – what you’re going to do about it. It’s a conversation about the future, rather than the past. Many people can describe exactly what they do not like about their lives. However, when asked how they would like the situation to look, more energy is required. Our job is to have them look in that direction.

Choosing a Mentor Coach

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

Most coaches are willing to answer some of your questions, and even do a free trial session before you sign on. Some good questions to ask are:

How long have you been coaching?
What training have you had?
How many coaches have you mentored or are you currently mentoring?
What kind of results have you had?
Can you provide email addresses of a couple of coaches you’ve worked with?
What is the most important thing you will provide to help me build a successful coaching practice?

Lastly, you want to feel comfortable with this person. Interviewing, trialing or studying up on one to three coaches should be sufficient. They no longer have to be in your country – just make sure if they’re overseas that they are willing to cover the cost of phone calls or factor this into your monthly fee.

If you’re concerned about the investment, consider what your return on that monthly investment might be. In most cases, you only need two to three paying clients to cover the cost of your mentor coach. And if your coach can’t help you increase your client list by MORE than two to three, something’s missing! Also consider the cost of NOT hiring a coach.

Ten Reasons Why You Must Increase Your Web Presence

1.) A website works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It’s like having an office or store that is always open for business. Can you imagine how much it would cost to keep your business open 24/7 using a rented space and round-the-clock staff?

2.) Web purchases are increasing!

People are buying more and more over the internet.

3.) Take orders automatically

Wouldn’t you like to check your inbox and find you had two clients sign up overnight? Without you spending 30-60 minutes ‘selling’ them on your services? With the web you can.

4.) Online advertising is cheaper

Compared to other forms of advertising, online advertising can get you a much greater return on your investment.

5.) Interactive marketing

Your website isn’t just a print article. It’s a rich multimedia experience with print, pictures, audio, and even video! People can click to read the information they are most interested in, and even fill in short quizzes. This interactive experience increases the chance they will actually purchase from you.

6.) Automated contact!

You can’t have a print ad send people 20 follow-up emails providing them with items of interest, automatically. You can with the web!

7.) Slash your marketing time.

A website is a hugely COST-EFFECTIVE form of marketing. You can explain your services and/or products and answer the most frequently asked questions on your website just once. Imagine all the time you’ll save not having to answer the same questions over and over again!

8.) Reach a worldwide audience

You can now reach a worldwide audience more economically, across every time-zone.

9.) Create additional income streams

Once you have a consistent stream of targeted visitors, you might start selling advertising on your site, or promoting other people’s products.

10.) Want media attention?

Journalist often do online research and find people to interview after studying their websites.

50 Trials in 50 Days

The following is an exercise from FirstFiftyClients.com.

When you’re ready to do LOTS of trial sessions, to share the value of coaching with people, you’ll need people! This [exercise] will help you develop your lists of people to approach. And, it will help you decide which approach to use for different groups of people. When calling, it helps to do at least 10 in a row so you generate momentum.

Now, write down anyone you can think of who even comes close to the following criteria.

Write down how you will invite each list of people to do a session. For example, with people you feel very connected to, you might be excited to call them straight away, and chat on the phone or arrange lunch.

List A: Anyone who might really enjoy having a coach for 1-6 months (e.g. they read self-help books, attend courses, or are generally willing to take input).

List B: Anyone who might enjoy a quick one off session to see what coaching is all about.

List C: Anyone who you know has a challenge, and you feel you would like to contribute to.

List D: Anyone you would simply love to work with/coach.

List E: Anyone who might know of someone who might be interested in a coaching session.

OK – I think you get the picture. If everyone you know is not on one of these lists, then go back and put them on one of these lists.

Is it Okay to Have so Much Freedom?

The following is an excerpt from the book Get Paid For Who You Are.

If you’re like most people, you grew up thinking you’d have to work 40 to 50 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, before you could take time off and play. In addition, you might have learned that work is something you must put up with to earn money and that loving what you do is nice but not a priority.

I hope you’ll start to consider a new possibility — that maybe it’s okay to work a lot less and have a lot more play in your life. In this day and age, you can actually get paid for doing something you really love. Perhaps you’re already seeing that a lifestyle of freedom is possible for you and beginning to feel a growing desire to create it.

What Coaching Isn’t

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

The most obvious point to remember is that coaching is not therapy, counseling, or psychology. In addition, coaching should not be confused with consulting or mentoring — there are subtle differences between each of these interventions. Whilst the coaching process may have originated in the field of psychology and intervention often follows some psychological models, the actual coaching process should not be mistaken for a therapeutic intervention. Some of the differences include:

Mentoring:
The passing on of knowledge, experiences, and skills usually by someone within the company who is older and wiser. Usually more specifically career-oriented information. A mentor has normally achieved the goal themselves, while a coach may not have any experience in the given coaching area.

Consulting:
Often using your own skills to improve a given situation, as opposed to developing the client’s skills to a level that can cope effectively with the situation.

Therapy and counseling:
Tends to focus on feelings related to past events and processing such feelings. Coaching is oriented towards goal setting and encouraging the client to actively move forward. Tony Grant from Sydney University has said: “Therapy is like helping someone with a broken leg to walk again. Coaching is helping them to run the four minute mile”.

Posts by David Wood

About David Wood

Ten Reasons Why You Must Increase Your Web Presence

Is it Okay to Have so Much Freedom?