The Benefits Of Hiring A Coach: And How To Choose The Right One For You!

Coaching is an industry that’s growing rapidly, but not highly regulated which leaves a fair amount of confusion. I spent several years having people telling me I should consider becoming a business and marketing coach myself, but hesitated because, in all honesty, I preferred the title of “Agency Owner.” It was an ego thing, and I see that for sure. It wasn’t until hiring coaches of my own, anywhere from life coaches to financial coaches, that I really started to understand the need for this service and even see how I was already practicing this in my business.

Let’s go over some of the fundamental concepts about coaching…

#1. What Is A Coach: Example of paying off $100k in debt

A coach is someone who has experience and expertise in a subject matter and will help guide someone towards their desired outcomes. I’ll outline benefits in further detail, but the foundation is this: if you have a goal or area in your life or business you are wanting to make more progress on, you can either figure it yourself, hire a consultant to tell you exactly what to do or hire a coach to guide you (similar to a consultant) but also walk through it with you. Recently one of my coaching clients told me hiring me was the obvious choice to grow his practice — “I could either stumble around for another 8 years, or I could skip to the front of the line and you tell me where to put my energy.” He paid off $100k in debt in less than a year. Win

#2. A Coach Has The Roadmap: They should have experience in your area of focus, but also the same core values

One of my clients made a huge transition from corporate life to an entrepreneurial life and had navigated that journey successfully. Moving to the tropics, she has what most would consider a “dream life” — and now she focuses on helping people through that exact same transition It’s a path she knows, has experienced, and learned from and offers valuable insight to someone going through a similar type situation. Another client does intuitive life coaching, which while is a seemingly specific niche, has proven incredibly helpful for people who have trouble pinpointing when they feel ‘blocked’ but offering outside perspective and provides strategy on reframing negative mindsets that hold people back. There are coaches in relationships, credit, health, nutrition, business, marketing, parenting and so much more! The ideal coach for you should be someone who has experience in not only getting to where you want to go, but have a value system that aligns with yours. Another way of saying this is that you like where they are at, and how they got there. More on this later.

#3. A Coach Provides Accountability: Even had a gym buddy?

We’ve all committed to working out more. We’ve probably done it alone, and two weeks in, it’s game over… that snooze button is just too good. Try the same scenario again, but you and your friend commit to going together. How many more times did you go because you knew they would be waiting for you? The truth is, we show up differently in life when we know somebody is waiting for us. Good coaches do the same thing… they offer a level of accountability. For my coaching clients, I focus primarily on business and marketing, with a heavy emphasis on revenue-generating activities. My clients rarely don’t do the homework offered each week, and if they do not, the conversation often starts with “don’t be mad!” — even in jest, the standard is that people do what they say they will do, and that is what gets the results. No one wants to disappoint.

#4. Investing In Yourself Cause You To Show Up At A Higher Intensity

Let’s go back to the gym analogy… if you pay for a $10 membership, you will hardly notice the recurring bill, and guilt for not showing up is completely on you, knowing you didn’t do the best thing for you. Now, what if you paid $500 for personal training sessions? $500 PER session? Best believe you would show early and prepared, follow those meal plans, pay close attention to every exercise, and expect results! Coaching sessions can range wildly based on the experience and track record of the coach. For business coaches, you can pay $50 per session or $1,000. I know of some business coaches who charge $15,000 for a year and some that charge $75,000 for six months. These are multimillionaires with the knowledge and access to back it up. I personally charge about $9,500 for six months — which goes up every few months — because my clients have gone from $500 months to $5,000, had $30k program launches, and exponentially grown their businesses. The value of those skills can provide a 10x ROI and I am comfortable with that pricing. When I started, I was charging $4,500 for 6 months. When I got consistent results and also realized how much energy it takes to truly support a client in their growth stages, I upped my pricing.

#5. Coaching Programs Vary In Length: How I Came Up With My Sweet Spot

It isn’t difficult to find people who do one-time coaching sessions, and the beauty of coaching is that it’s what works best for you and them. They know what their clients need and how they work best. Many coaching programs are 6-weeks, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year long. There are also group coaching programs, where you are meeting with a group of people versus one-on-one, but for now, I am talking about one-on-one. I have found that 6 months is my starting package. It takes about three months to build a killer foundation and get revenue revved up, which of course depends on where someone is in their business, but the additional 3 months are more focused on the systems and long term strategic planning to build momentum that lasts. I’ve tried 3 months and it just never seemed like enough time. The same thing goes for the timing of my sessions. I do 1-hour sessions because I often do training on social ads and things like that that take more time and are somewhat technical. For life coaching or less technical calls, 20 minutes usually suffices.

Now that we understand the basics of what coaching can look like, let’s discuss how to guan if someone is right for you…

#6. Do They Share The Same Core Values: Personal Development, Becoming A Better You, and Integrity

Going back to point number two, where I discussed coaches having the roadmap — just because someone has the experience of being where you want to be it does not mean that they got there in a way you feel comfortable getting there. There are SO many different ways to get somewhere, but how do you want the experience to be to get there? This is where social media has been so valuable in building my business… I believe in having a message to share and creating content as part of the lifestyle I personally desire. That’s why I took a break from eating tamales and watching Brooklyn 99 after dinner to write this blog (or this email)… this topic was on my mind and it needed to come out! I believe in operating in a space of integrity, having a healthy personal life so your light can shine, investing time and energy in personal development, and providing value for not only your clients but potential clients and the general public. While not every client I’ve worked with creates content, they value the same things I do so we get along well! If a potential coach is promoting in a salesy or leaves an ‘ick’ feeling, they probably aren’t a great fit for you! On the other hand, some people love seeing ‘receipts’ (screenshots of money deposits, etc.) and so that person might be in alignment for you!

#7. They Have Strengths In Area You Want To Grow In

Attraction marketing has become my thing. Building empires, also my thing. I’ve successfully built a coaching business, a digital course library, a podcast, a best selling book, a speaking career and coming soon, a sales tracking app. I’ve done most of this through a mix of networking, social media and content just like this. If someone wants to focus on click-funnels and hates social media, I am not the person for them. If you want to figure out how to create content that provides amazing value and show up on social media… then I am that woman! Bonus point if you are into law of attraction and the power of mindset… I mean, I did write The Manifest List!

#8. They Should Match A Level In Professionalism That You Need

This point made me pause… I didn’t know if I should add it. I never want to put down another person's way of doing something, but while some people are super relaxed, I am not! I loooovvvee structure, and fortunately, my ideal client craves structure! It’s less important that anyone does anything a certain way, but that you find someone who matches your level of structure and adaptability. To provide the best for my clients, I have them scheduled for the same time each week. This allows me to manage my energy, and have days where I am focused on creating content and building other parts of my empire. I prefer zoom for screen sharing and reading body language, but others prefer a phone call scheduled as needed. The coach should be the one setting that pace, and those are important things to gauge and ask questions about when hiring your coach.

#9. There Should Be Trust.

My last point here is trust. When looking at how someone works, it’s always great to look at their content and social media. How do they talk about others? How do they talk about life? Is there a level of vulnerability? Authenticity? Do they put other people's business out there? I have come to the realization that for 6-months, and often beyond, I know more about someone's business than anyone else. I know about their wildest dreams. Their fears. Their disappointment. Their courageousness. All the things! It’s so important to me to protect that trust and to appreciate the trust in me to not only hold their business dear but to genuinely care and fight for their success. It’s hard if you do not know someone personally to create a sense of trust, but that’s where attraction marketing and content come in. Just by really paying attention online, you can learn so much about a person. Of course, the relationship also grows over time, but in order to receive trust, you have to be trustworthy. Are you choosing someone you trust to be on your journey with you?

I genuinely hope this was incredibly valuable to you, whether you are a coach or are working with one. Countless executives, celebrities, and professionals have coaches, and for me, it’s been such a valuable asset and definitely one of the keys to my own successes. If you do feel ready to invest in yourself and feel like I might be the person to partner with to make things really happen for you this month, this year… today… then set up a discovery call here and we can talk on the phone and see if we are a good fit!

Besos,

Sharon

Book a discovery call here: https://sharenterprise.as.me/ActivationDiscoveryCall

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