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 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.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Jim Earley in 10 Super Coaches.
Roughly how much capital/money did you spend in the first 6-12 months, and on what?
I already had a computer. I would have purchased my time and billing software ($200), and initial business cards ($30). My ongoing expenses would have included, paper, envelopes and postage, membership dues, meals, and automobile expenses.
After a year or so, I spent the best money ever on a high quality business card with a particularly evocative label. I bartered the design, and spent $400 on the cards. They were cool. Made a statement. Got noticed every time I used them. Bolstered my confidence, big time.
Some time later, I had a brochure printed. My attitude towards brochures is that they might be an important process to experience, but they’re probably not an important tool to have.
