The key to your business success is not better technical skills, the key to your success is mastering entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is THE element that makes all the difference. It took me far too long to get the lesson. Your process could be faster, easier and even more profitable than mine!
Here is an interesting bit of information: of the 3 highest earning coaches/facilitators earning in excess of $1M a year (of which I am one), not one of us has any formal coach certification designation. To me this is not just a bit of interesting information, it points to a problem in the industry, a problem with coach certification programs.
Yes I know I have designed and delivered my own coach certification program for the past 7 years and yes, the problem exists with my program as well.
In fact I was aware of the gaping hole in my design. I even talked about it to everyone considering my program. My grounding was that we will teach you what I believe to be the best processing framework that exists on the planet so that you can support your clients with REAL VALUE… and you need to go somewhere else to learn how to market and run your business…that is NOT what we do.
I remember saying that there are a multitude of business and entrepreneur training programs and encouraged my clients to go and take them. What is funny is that so few would actually pursue business training.
I have a hypothesis and significant data to support my view that there is a belief block for many people about making money and helping people. This belief block is a crime. There is no more valuable service on the planet than helping our fellow man, and it should and can be well rewarded.
What also became clear to me through supporting people in this industry over the past 15 years is that coaching, facilitating and virtually ALL helping relationship businesses have their own unique issues and opportunities. Woefully there are VERY few programs that actually focus on this niche of entrepreneurship, although thankfully this has been growing in the past few years.
Being an entrepreneur from birth it seems, most of my skills in this area have been self taught (trial and lots of error!). Yes I took Business Administration at school, but be clear even that is NOT really entrepreneur training. It is primarily technical training of how to manage a business. Different, very different than designing a business, launching a business, nurturing a business to sustainability and ultimately reaping the rewards of that business in a multitude of ways.
The truth is that the majority of people who participated in our programs have succeeded in coaching and facilitating primarily because they had a supporting structure or organization that actually took care of the “business†end of the process. Many became trainers within their existing careers and companies, like Telus, Nexen, and many others. Some coaches also became affiliated with Personal Best. By and large those that actually became coaches and facilitators did so within or in relationship to larger organizations. Those that hung out their own shingle and are continuing to practice are few and far between.
The message is clear: to succeed in this industry, the vast majority of people must have the support of a larger structure that teaches, assists with and in some cases even handles the business end of the business.
To succeed as a coach, facilitator or for that matter in ANY helping relationship, what is needed far more than technical skills are business skills and entrepreneurial moxie. The fundamental beliefs and skills of an entrepreneur will have more to do with the long term success of a coach than any other single factor.
The cliché of “do what you love and the money will follow†is for the most part not true, there are a multitude of certified coaches who have been doing what they love and frankly starving to death.
Do what you love – do that which is congruent with what you are GREAT at; build a sustainable business model to support what you love and then the money will follow.
It is for this reason that my partner Colin and I have founded The Association of Helping Relationship Entrepreneurs. An organization dedicated to the most important aspect of your business. Building your business.
The truth is you are not alone, you do NOT need to struggle, you can and deserve to be abundant and wealthy sharing your gifts and supporting others. If you make your living through helping relationships (or would like to) you must find out more about the new association.
We have 2 upcoming events:
A free informational webinar that you can register for here.
http://myoptinpage2.com/?pid=5144125
And for those of you who already know me and my capacity to create and support others to create meaningful, profitable businesses supporting individuals and the world, you can register for the upcoming weekend sponsored by the Association of Helping Relationship Entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, The Missing Ingredient for Helping Relationship Businesses
When: June 26 – 28th
Where: Calgary AB
Investment: $997, if you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you can register now for only $747
Seating is very limited, secure your seat now.
