The biggest secret of coaching success is that there are no secrets. Life coaching is about the practical application of proven procedures with commitment. Although there are no trade secrets, there are several tips that established coaches have learned from hard work and experience.

Starting a new practice may seem a daunting prospect and indeed, it is a big step into your future, but the really good news is that you do not have to change or vary your current life style too much. Life coaching is one of the few professions that you can sample with minimum cost or risk before committing yourself fully. Then, by the time you want to commit, you will have already created a small practice. As long as you can allocate at least four hours each week, you can use them to dip your metaphoric toe in the rewarding water of life coaching.

You only require four essential ‘props’ to start your practice. A diary, a telephone, a pen and paper. Well what I am saying is that you need to get going, not just sit on the fence watching and waiting for the right time because in my experience, that time only ever comes when you take action. Where coaching is concerned, you can only become a coach, once you have coached! Simple, and many people spend time and money on courses, seminars, videos, books and talking rather than coaching or finding people to coach.

Secret, dig out all your old address books and start contacting everyone in the book! Yes everyone. Once you have introduced yourself simply explain you are now a life coach and you work with successful people, then say ‘You have a great network of successful people. Who do you know wants more success and is prepared to do something about it?’ You can put in some incentives if you wish. Vouchers for clients signed etc..

Once you have started coaching, then all you have to do is to build your practice gradually and adopt some routines that will help to increase your client base.

Turning a part time hobby into a fully profitable practice is not as hard as it may seem at first sight. You do require dedication, passion and commitment. The biggest requirement for inevitable success is the genuine desire to help other people in their own quest for success. It
is strange that you need to make other people successful to become successful yourself and it is this paradox that first attracted me to the profession. Unlike many other enterprises, your practice will enjoy profits in direct proportion to your effectiveness in helping other people to achieve success.

Extract taken from The Life Coaching Handbook by Curly Martin.