Five Lessons on How To Become a Business Coach 

how to become a business coach
how to become a business coach

Five Lessons on How To Become a Business Coach 

I finished graduate school and was a professor for 5 years before leaving academia in 2011 to start my mental coaching business full-time.

There was no safety-net, no nest egg, no back-up plan, nor business and coaching plan for that matter. And starting out, many months were a struggle, financially, so I hope these lessons can help. 

Here’s just five business coaching tips that I wanted to share on how to become a business coach and successful business coach.

“You will get fired.”

When the late, great Ken Ravizza uttered these words, I totally accepted and understood it. But, until it happens, not much prepares you for the feelings of hurt of being fired. However, what I failed at Ken mentioned was you’ll get fired AFTER doing a good job business coaching. 

I was and am still never prepared for this situation, but I’ve coached PGA Tour winners, Indy 500 champions, Olympic medalists, successful small business owners, executives, and I’ve been let go AFTER success. 

Getting fired after success does not occur every time of course, but it happens because after reaching the mountain top, the Sherpa is no longer needed. Hence, there is often a feeling from those that hire you as   “ okay, we did it, now what?” 

The toughest part of getting fired are the relationships that are built because of the intimacy of the work involved. Hey, maybe it never happens to you, but as the saying goes, “there’s two types of coaches, those have have been fired and those that will.” 

 Can’t help everyone, so screen the “motivation” as best you can. 

Initial sessions are sometimes as much for you as it is them. It’s a lot about fit. You’ll need to assess and game-plan potential clients , coach, small business owner, or team that you can help reach their goals. 

Motivation is the skill that is hardest to coach, so that potential client must have either pain or vision driving them to do what it takes. Out of every 10 calls we receive, 9/10 people are in some sort of pain and want it taken care of. Only 1/10, in my experience, are seeking you out for coaching because they have a vision of where they want to be and just aren’t realizing their potential.  Yes, we want sport psychology coaching, mental skills coaching and business coaching to be proactive, but this field is still a blend of being an athletic trainer and a strength coach. 

If it’s a parent who wants to hire you, make sure you set boundaries before engaging so they understand what is ‘okay’ and what is not ‘okay’ from their role as a parent. Lastly, If there’s too many red flags, be prepared to say no. 

Multiple streams of income

We have never accepted insurance, performed consulting as a part-time gig, nor received a steady paycheck, so revenue is the heart of the business. 

This becomes a crucial part about “how to become a business coach.” Multiple streams of income means being diversified like most successful business coaches, and we’ve delineated this into five (5) streams: Team clients/sessions, individual clients/sessions, professional athletes, professional speaking, and online business coaching (podcast, books, courses, & sponsorships). 

One part of the coaching business may be struggling, so it’s best to handle the ups & downs by having multiple streams of revenue. And residual income is king.  Hence, after initial sessions,  have a monthly, quarterly, or annual model of coaching to forecast revenue. This strategy also  provides the freedom to do your best work. Avoid the one-off model as best as you can. 

And since you’ll be fired, make sure “the juice is worth the squeeze.”  If you coach for free, you’ll not only undervalue your own work and the field as a whole, but it makes charging and building your business exponentially more difficult.

Resentments can also easily emerge if you invest your time and expertise for free, so do this sparingly, if at all. 

Keep creating your personal brand

I’ve written eight books on mental toughness and sport psychology.

I’ve written over 300 mental toughness blog posts and recorded over 140 mental toughness podcast episodes. We have a modest, but devoted newsletter list of over 10k.

I mention these, because I believe creativity is a super-power with this field of developing business coaching programs. 

Writing, recording, thinking, developing ideas, and talking with others is a way to keep the creativity muscle growing. When you stay creative, you’re able to develop content in a multitude of ways that can serve as a way to help others. Your content becomes your brand and your brand makes income. 

Get so good that they have to hire you

The mental health coaching and business coaching fields have exploded with guru’s, part-timers, and successful business owners in other arenas of life who are now mental coaches. Anyone can call themselves a certified business coach or professional business coach. Most everyone also has some expertise into mental game work, regardless of what they call it. Now, most of this existing coaching is simply motivational in nature, but the point is that everyone is a coach. 

You simply need to be so good at your business coaching practice and helping people achieve their goals, that they need to hire you. Also, you need to be ready for that moment that a coach or business owner asks you an in-depth mental game question that will led them to hire you or not. 

How To Become A Business Coach

And if you’re serious about wanting to pursue sport psychology coaching and being a mental performance coach, download this free guide: How to become a mental performance coach

Five Lessons on How To Become a Business Coach 

 

Dr. Rob Bell is a Sport Psychology Coach. DRB & associates coach executives and professional athletes. Some clients have included three different winners on the PGA Tour, Indy Eleven, University of Notre Dame, Marriott, and Walgreens. 

Tagged in :

More Articles & Posts