The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
What was most disheartening for you while building your practice?
Why give up a lucrative business before I am sure I can be a successful coach? Giving up a business that was successful but stressful and transitioning to coaching full time was a HUGE decision for me. If felt like jumping off a cliff and hoping the parachute would open. It was necessary to make that choice to have the time and commitment to coaching – but it was very scary.
One morning I got up and spent the entire day coaching – doing what I loved and being on my life mission and I realized that it was worth stepping through the fear. In addition, I have had fabulous senior mentor coaches in the 8 ½ years I have been coaching. It was with the support and encouragement of a coach who was ahead of me on the journey that gave me that courage – I was not stepping out alone.
The second block was the plateauing. In the first two years, I built my client base to 10 or 12 clients consistently but I could not get past that number. It was then I read the anonymous quote – “If you can do it yourself, it’s not a big enough dream” – so I started building and increasing my network so that referrals come regularly from clients, from networking groups, for alliances, from other coaches, etc.
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 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.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
How would you suggest coaches find their niche?
I think that the secret is in the connection. By showing up in as many arenas as possible, coaching and speaking about coaching and allowing your niche to develop, you will attract the people who are your ideal clients.
If you have been a player in an industry in a previous life, use your advocates and start with that community. Experiment in several communities by speaking, networking, and writing in journals or newsletters that they read. You have the opportunity for your ideal clients to show up, be attracted to you and create magic together.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
Would you advise coaches to pursue certification?
Absolutely, it is a great confidence builder and adds credibility with prospects, particularly companies and professionals. In a newly emerging industry like coaching, there is uncertainty in organizations about using unproven people and solutions. Credentialling is a way to reassure prospective clients. Also, media attention is most likely to come to you if you are credentialed by a major coaching training company or coaching organization.
I encourage the coaches I mentor to start the credentialing process at the beginning of their coaching business. For example, to find out what are some of the criteria for credentialing and start using the proficiencies and tracking clients immediately, so when it is time to apply for credentials, most of the required information is ready.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
What was the most interesting or exciting thing for you about building your practice?
Number one – creating my own business.
Number two – results for my clients.
I had a client who was a professor in a major University who was on her way to becoming tenured and was miserable. She came to me to help her put more zest into her life outside her work so she could accept the fact that she wasn’t happy in her job. I challenged and encouraged her to look at alternatives to what she was doing. She loved to travel, spoke several languages and enjoyed cultural diversity. She also liked to work intensely for short periods and then have a break.
She explored how she could use her strengths and expertise in another model. When I asked her about being a Global Trainer, she replied that she had never heard of such a thing. After days of research, she found herself in all the descriptions of a global trainer. Soon she was headed out on her assignments to Turkmenistan training managers for a Multi-national company. She doubled her revenue and had four to six months off a year working in new environments intensely for a few months. She is happy in her work life now and in her personal life.
I have so many examples of people having the courage to make changes in their lives that I feel the excitement for each one of them and the joy that I was part of the coaching partnership.
