You're trying to do too much, too fast
There seems to be a baked-in urgency in the coaching industry.
It starts with how this path is marketed, oftentimes with a “get rich quick” energy.
“Get certified, have a practice, all will be easy and clear!”
So when new coaches finish up their certification programs there is this expectation that the next step is “having a coaching business”
When we realize that it isn’t just going to magically appear out of nowhere, we start to scramble to figure out “what to do next.”
“I want clients! I’d like to get paid! I need to set up and launch my business!”
This drive fuels our descent into the Coaching and Marketing Industrial Complex.
All of a sudden we’re bombarded with all of the things we’re told we “should” do to get our business off the ground - niche, website, email marketing, social media, offers, funnels, memberships, signature offers, landing pages, sequences, branding - the list goes on and on.
And it’s not that those things AREN’T a part of business building. Each one of them on their own constitutes a collection of practices and skills that do contribute to successful entrepreneurship.
The problem is that new coaches are so eager to figure things out that they try to tackle everything all at once, usually with hopes that if we can just pick the right entry point and solve it, everything will be easier on the other side.
This manifests with beliefs like, “if I pick my niche everything will become clear,” or “I just have to set up my email system and figure out how to send out the right notes and then I will get clients.”
Only to find that on the other side of picking a niche…or setting up ConvertKit and some emails….or designing a website…is another piece of puzzle to figure out.
The world of establishing a coaching business can feel chaotic, overwhelming, and not at ALL what you signed up for when you decided to become a coach (and have your own coaching business. They are two separate decisions.)
You don’t have to do everything all at once. You can’t.
In order to lean into this, though, you must be willing to slow down, to give your coaching - and your coaching business - more time.
Your business evolves as your coaching evolves. There are some business practices that are better left until LATER in the coaching journey, when you have the experience, confidence, clarity, and audience required to move into things like branding, fancy website design, scaling, membership, signature programs, and more.
When you’re just starting out, developing both your Coaching AND establishing your Coaching Business, try to focus on business practices that are doable and within reach from the beginning: collecting feedback, becoming known for being a coach, sharing your expertise an ideas on some publishing channel, starting an email list, setting up a VERY SIMPLE, easy to update website, extending invitations to people, hearing no/facing rejection, and telling people about your work.