life coaching - Inner Firewalking

Self Coaching Form

The following is an sample form from Top Coaching Techniques.

1. What have you achieved since the last coaching session, in any/all areas of your life? (Include anything you have learned)

2. Are any actions not done or incomplete from the last coaching session? I will complete these by:

3. Have you been blocked anywhere? What is your current Perspective and underlying Judgment? What new Perspective will you create?

4. Please name three things in your life for which you are currently grateful (at least one should be different from previous weeks).

5. What concerns, if any, do you currently have?

6. What opportunities exist, or can you create for yourself this week? (In particular, you might like to use any insights from 3 or 5)

7. Please list the actions you will take to move yourself forward by the next coaching session:

(List numbered down the page, and please be specific)

8. What do you want to accomplish from your upcoming coaching session? Please be as specific as you can, and if you draw a blank, I invite you to create something!

David Wood on Offering Free Coaching

The following is taken from David’s interview in 10 Super Coaches.

Do you recommend offering free coaching?

I do recommend offering a free initial session, I think that’s quite smart. This isn’t like the profession of being a doctor where people are looking for you already and they’ve been to a doctor twenty times in their life.

This is a profession that a lot of people don’t know about and they may not trust yet until they’ve experienced it, so I think offering a free session makes a lot of sense. A lot of businesses give a free consultation, so whether or not you call it a free coaching session, or a free consultation, at least have a ten-minute chat to find out what their goals are and to explore ways that coaching could help them.

If you can help them find their goals, if you can help them get clear on what they really want to have in their life, then that’s going to inspire them. They’re going to be excited when they get present to that. The next thing they need to see is that working with you is going to help them get that. So if you get those two things covered – that they get inspred about their goals and the could see how coaching could help, then chances are you’re going to have a client.

Anna Dargitz on Charging Clients

The following is taken from David’s interview with Anna Dargitz in 10 Super Coaches.

What advice would you give coaches about charging clients?

Give some of it away knowing that what you give freely comes back tenfold. Give some of it away with the agreement that the client may receive benefit, but they are also giving themselves to the coach so the coach can practice their new skills. And for some, charge what people can afford to pay you, noticing who receives the most from you (your ideal client). Notice who you attract and what it takes to attract your ideal clients.

How did you deal with the coaching/charging friends issue?

After feeling disappointed a few times because of my own unrealistic expectations, I stopped going there! I cross-referred. My coach colleagues sent me their/family and I sent them mine. Always pro bono with the agreement that both coach and client were practicing on each other.

Find What the Client is Comfortable Paying

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

So how do we marry the first two principles? How do we take on as many clients as possible, yet value our services, and get as much revenue as possible?

Simple: Ask the client what they’re happy to pay!

Consider the following role play I might do with a new coach playing the part of a prospective client:

Scenario 1

Client: “How much do you charge?”

Coach: “I charge $300 per month.”

Client: “Well OK – how do we get started?”

Scenario 2

Client: “How much do you charge?”

Coach: “I charge $300 per month.”

Client: “Hmmmm….well I don’t think I can afford that right now, but I appreciate your time.”

Coach: “Well let me ask you, IF price wasn’t an issue for you, would you be interested in working with me on this issue for 2-3 months?”

Client: “Hmmmm… yes – IF price wasn’t an issue, I suppose I would.”

Coach: “OK – since I’m still building my practice, and I want to coach you, I’m happy to make an investment in this. In fact, right now, the money isn’t that important to me. So tell me, what would you feel comfortable paying?”

Client: “Well I suppose $150 would be OK.”

Coach: “Great, if you’re willing to commit to working with me for 3 months on this, I’m willing to take you on at 50% of my fee for that time. At the end of that period, we can revisit it.”

See how it works?

What a Coach Provides – Part 2

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

a) Challenge to expand the thinking process and make bold new decisions.
Someone daring you to go further than you ever have before is also an extremely powerful way to break old habits and forge new boundaries.

b) Direction in times of confusion, opinion and if necessary, advice.
Once again, the power of a fresh set of eyes to interpret a new perspective on a situation is often invaluable during the coaching process.

c) Brainstorming to flesh out new ideas.

d) Acknowledgement and validation
This cannot be stressed enough. The coach who only focuses with the client on what is missing and what needs to be done, deserves to lose the client.

Here are some interesting statistics from a past ICF client survey:

* Role of the Coach: 84% believed that the major role of the coach was as a sounding board, whilst 78% focused on motivational aspects. 56% viewed their coach as a friend, 50% as a mentor. 46% viewed their coach as a business consultant, with 41% as a teacher.

Hot Invitation

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

How many times are you at a party, meeting, in an elevator, etc., and someone asks you what you do? This is an excellent opportunity to invite someone to experience coaching with you. However, firstly you must give them a REASON or INCENTIVE to do so. Secondly, you must extend an INVITATION!

A HOT INVITATION is one extended when you are already talking to someone, and coaching comes up (as opposed to a warm invite where you call someone you know to discuss coaching). You’re on the spot — here’s an opportunity to turn a conversation into a trial coaching session.