Will I Ever Become Prosperous as a Coach? | 3 Principles Coaching

When I started coaching it seemed like everyone was either selling a program to help coaches create six figures in an incredibly short space of time or they were selling courses around creating high-value packages and signing clients for large fees.

It appeared that I just needed to know some kind of secret that they were teaching so that I too could become a really successful coach and make a lot of money like they were.

However, what I found was that it was far more difficult to create the results that these marketers were suggesting. Also, not only was I finding it difficult, but it seemed like every coach I knew was also struggling to do the same.

After a couple of years into my coaching journey I did have the thought of giving up. But I’m really glad that I stayed in the course because in doing so I found systems and worked with coaches & mentors who guided me to create a business in a way that is ethical and in line with my values – something that I could build step by step. 

And that wasn’t the only time, there have also been so many moments in my journey when it felt like building a really prosperous coaching practice was taking far longer than I thought it should take or I wanted it to take. I’d be lying if I say I didn’t have thoughts about quitting and going back to my lucrative corporate job.

What I tell coaches now is that almost every coach that I know who’s really successful and making a really good living from coaching didn’t do it overnight. They have taken their time and learned step by step to create a practice and create systems that work for them.

If I could change one thing about the coaching industry it would be to ban all the marketers who sell unrealistic expectations to coaches around building their coaching practice. Because these unrealistic expectations create a negative feedback loop:

Coaches expect to create a lot more income than is likely in a given period of time. So even if they are doing well, given their expectations of what they could create they think they’re failing and with that, they get into a negative feedback loop by putting pressure on themselves to create more income – which pushes clients away.

Many coaches have told me that it’s really refreshing when I let them know that yes, they can create a lot of money from coaching and yes, they can create a really good living and have all the trappings of success, but often it won’t come overnight; it will take time to build it up.

Paradoxically, the more they slow down the quicker this happens and their income will go up year after year.