Part 4: It will probably take longer than you expect
Ankush speaks about the things he wished he’d known when started coaching. In this part 4, he addresses coaches’ expectations on how long it would take for them to have a full coaching practice and thrive in this profession.
Contact Details:
To find more resources for coaches, please visit https://ankushjain.co.uk/coaches/
To grow your own coaching practice and become a more impactful coach, check out Ankush’s online course with Dr Mark Howard: https://ankushkumarjain.podia.com/building-the-impactful-and-sustainable-3p-coaching-practice
Full transcript:
Ankush: When I first started looking at this, and maybe this is just me, but I thought I would do a qualification, or I’d do something, and within 3 months, I would quit my corporate job and I would be coaching full-time, and what I really wish someone had told me, and no-one told me this, what I really wish someone had told me is, it probably will take longer than you expect. And what I’ve seen is either people don’t expect that and then they get frustrated because things aren’t happening quickly enough, or, people quit their corporate job prematurely, or quit what they’re doing elsewhere prematurely and then it’s a case of, “oh no now I really need the cash,” and then they really get insecure, and then that shows up also.
And there’s that Bill Gates quote that “we overestimate what we can do in a year, but we underestimate what we can do in a decade.” And I love that, and I’m not saying it’s going to take a decade, and I’m not saying there are things you can’t do to speed up the learning process, but what I’ve found is that an awful lot of people, myself included, thought this would be a few months, 6 months, even a year, and then I would be making tons of money, able to replace my corporate job and then some, and in reality, I found it doesn’t work that way. And in fact, to make a decent living, the equivalent of if you were a professional, which a lot of coaches are before they come into coaching, you’re probably going to be in the top 10% of coaches.
The vast majority of coaches are doing this part-time or just really struggling to make ends meet. And I’m not saying that as a negative thing, I’m not saying that to put anyone off coaching, I love coaching, I think it’s one of the greatest professions on the planet, I really enjoy it, and this is not to be said in a negative way, but I really want people to hear that, this isn’t “oh it’s a fantastic lifestyle, that you see on some of the marketing, just work a few hours a week and make all this money…” In reality, for people to pay you for you to talk to them, because that’s ultimately what we’re doing, we’re talking to people, and then people are paying us money for that, there needs to be value in that.
