The following is taken from David’s interview with Anna Dargitz in 10 Super Coaches.
What was the most interesting or exciting thing for you about building your practice?
Most exciting thing for me about practice development was learning this truth:
Self-awareness + interdependence on others + supportive environments = Successful Practice Development.
I am indebted to my own long-term coaches over the years who inspired me to soar with my strengths and reach farther than I believed I could. They are truly gifted coaches and mentors and include Craig Carr (PCC), Steve Davis, Jennifer Anderson (MCC) and Phil Karl.
What was perhaps the biggest mistake you made in practice building?
Not jumping into interdependent mode sooner. I never do anything important by myself anymore.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Philip Cohen in 10 Super Coaches.
I believe the certification offered by the International Coach Federation is the most rigorous and the most widely respected. Certification is more than a certificate. The value of a certification lies in the credibility of the certification process. ICF requires a candidate to have formal training, document the number of hours they have coached, and to demonstrate their competency as a coach through live and taped coaching sessions. The assessors are all senior level coaches who know how to administer the exams. The certificate isn’t for just completing a program, the candidate must be able to use the skills. Numerous coaching schools around the world have created their programs based on ICF’s Core Coaching Competencies.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Anna Dargitz in 10 Super Coaches.
What was most disheartening for you while building your practice?
Marketing was disheartening. I’m not a traditional sales person. In my day, the law of attraction was addressed but there was no hand-holding through the steps of marketing with authenticity. I bought and read all the power and guerrilla networking materials. I tried a bunch of them. They only blocked my natural flow. So I set out to write my own workbook and teleclass on marketing that focused on authentic affiliations and partnering. I eliminated anything that seemed phony to me. I was interested in soaring with strengths and delegating weaknesses to affiliations and partners who were strong in the areas of our weakness.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
In the first year, what percentage of your coaching was face to face versus phone?
100% by phone. I started coaching by telephone and have only coached one client face to face since I began coaching. I coach all my individual clients and all my groups by telephone. My clients are scattered all over the country and the world – the telephone allows me to provide extraordinary flexibility and allows me to coach more people and groups.
Telephone bridge calls are a great way to stay connected regularly with many clients – and I feel people relax their guard and share more freely and openly on the phone.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Mike Turner in 10 Super Coaches.
In order, what where the top three sources of your clients in the first 2 years?
From people who had been clients in the time before I was a self-employed coach. The work arose from on-going conversations with them about what I was doing and what the challenges facing them were. This was the main source.
From my website – this only brought a few clients but one at least has now been with me for 6 years off and on.
From a magazine article which mentioned me.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
Are there any particular school(s) you would recommend?
I am a Master Certified Coach with IFC and a Certified Mentor Coach with Coachville. Also, I am a certified Teleclass leader at Coach University and at the Graduate School of Coaching at Coachville. I encourage clients to explore credentialing with quality organizations who train significant numbers of coaches that impact the industry. To be connected to a strong community of coaches is one of the most wonderful things about coaching.
