Three Paths to a Successful Life Coaching Career

Dr. Purushothaman
January 14, 2014

 

I always get this question from coaches: "How do I know what to do? There are so many ways to build a business, I am overwhelmed with all the choices! What's right for me?"
Overwhelm… the biggest reason coaching exists in the first place :) But actually, it's easier than you think to know exactly what to do - you simply need to know what business model you're building and where you want to end up.
Here are the 3 distinct ways to think about building your life coaching career, 3 paths you can take to success in coaching:
Path #1: Celebrity Expert
I usually recommend this path to coaches who completely resist the idea of focusing on a niche market. You have to be able to reach your clients somehow, and this path allows you to do just that:
1. Take a stand for something (e.g. "Spanking creates aggressive kids")
2. Write a book about your topic or approach
3. Identify organizations whose members are your ideal clients
4. Speak at their events offering strategy sessions and coaching programs.
It's a great path for people who also love being on stage and travel. To help you get on path #2 and #3, be sure to record your presentations and workshops so you could build your content and start generating passive income.
Path #2: Specialist
This path is wonderful if you are focusing on a niche market and want to create many solutions and income streams from your expertise. This is the path you want to take if your goal is passive and residual income.:
1. Focus on a niche target market
2. Become an expert on it
3. Create solutions (programs, products, events, and tools) for this target market
Path #3: High-Paid Specialist
This is usually for a more advanced, ambitious, and driven coach who thinks like an entrepreneur and wants to become the center of influence in his or her niche:
1. Focus on a niche target market
2. Become an expert on it
3. Create solutions (programs, products, events, and tools) for this target market
4. Develop your own success system in your field
I started out on pah #2 and went on to path #3, which is where every driven entrepreneur wants to end up. Which path have you taken? Are you trying to follow different paths at the same time? You can absolutely take all three, but probably not at the same time.
Any thoughts on this?
If marketing has not been your favorite thing to do in business, most likely you're just going about it the wrong way. Let me show you how reframing your thinking about it can explode your business.

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