Choosing a Name For Your Life Coaching Business
One of the most common questions new coaching professionals have is around choosing a name for their life coaching business.
Choosing a name for a life coaching business is really no different than choosing a name for any other business. There is one very popular school of thought about naming a business where you make up a name that is SO unusual that you will be easy to find when prospective clients come looking for your business.
It sounds good, doesn’t it. Make an unusual name for your coaching business and that way, when your prospective clients go searching for you, you’re easy to find. However, that’s not the way it works.
I should know because I made that mistake when I named my business.
Way back in 1997 when I was choosing a name for my business, I decided upon the name Virtual Impacts. However, much to my dismay, another web development company in Texas had already secured the correct spelling. So, I picked up the catchy and edgy Virtual Impax. A few years later, the correct spelling became available and I grabbed that one too.
Over the past 12 years, I’ve created several HUNDRED websites for clients. I’ve launched over 100 blogs over the last 18 months alone! After 12 years there still isn’t a SINGLE PERSON searching for my business name of Virtual Impax.
There are people searching for Virtual Pets, Virtual Sex, and Virtual Hairstyles… but the number of people who searched for Virtual Impax last month didn’t register with any of the free keyword trackers available on the internet. There are a few people who search for me by my business name every once in a while, but for the most part, my business name isn’t helping my business one iota.
They say wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes. This is your opportunity to learn from mine!!!
When choosing a name for your life coaching business, choose a name that includes words potential clients might use to find you!
Carol Solomon chose the domain name Hypnosis and Diet to promote her EFT Weight Loss Products. Sandy Clendenen chose Move Beyond Grief for her website. Rosemary Davies-Janes chose Miboso Training for her latest website.
Other great domain names which help potential clients find the coach when doing a web search are:
- Beyond Infertility for couples who are having trouble conceiving.
- Boost Your Low Libido for those who need to re-ignite the flame
- Clutter Busting Coach for those who need help conquering clutter
- Do Not Grieve Alone providing help for Widows and Widowers
- Effective Training Solutions for those who need effective training solutions
- Lose Weight Find Life for those who need to lose weight.
- Stress Relief for Life for those who need to conquer stress.
What does each website name have in common above? You can tell in an INSTANT what benefits each coaching professional is offering.
When you’re choosing a name for your life coaching business, try to focus on the words people who need you might use to find you.
Do You Want to Make Money Coaching?
Do you want to Make Money Coaching?
It may seem like a silly question… but it’s been my experience that a lot of aspiring coaches would rather spend time on activities that don’t make them money than focus their time and attention on those activities that do.
It’s not just aspiring coaches that struggle with this issue. Timothy Coote offers this salient piece of advice. DO THINGS WHICH MAKE MONEY. He goes on in his post Frogs:
I understand all of the new gurus bleeting on about having a passion for participating in conversations et al. And this is great if you are a business and you have in place a plan to make money out of those conversations. If you are not in business this does not apply to you so you can go back to chatting, blogging, facebooking, twittering, whatever it is you do which makes you feel good. If you have a business then your number one priority is to make money and I don’t care what anyone says. All the kindheartedness and social well-being you have pent up which you want to impart on the world as a business owner means nothing if your business is going down the toilet.
So how is it exactly that you plan on making money with your coaching practice?
Your coaching practice at it’s core is just like any other service based business.
- Your accountant offers his/her professional advice on your finances and taxes.
- Your medical doctor offers his/her professional advice on the state of your health.
- Your personal trainer offers his/her professional advice on improving your fitness level.
You’ll notice, you don’t go to your medical doctor to get advice on your taxes. Meanwhile, your CPA doesn’t get the call when you’re ill. Yet time and time again, I’ll hear coaching professionals claim that they are creating a business which will provide help for everyone with every issue.
Begin building a solid foundation for your business by deciding what services you want to provide and to whom you’ll provide those services. It’s amazing how much CLARITY defining your target market can provide. Once you’ve decided who you want to help and how, then things will begin to come into focus. But determining your target audience is the first essential step.
Creating your ideal coaching practice….
Part of building your ideal coaching practice is putting together the “dream team” needed to bring your vision of business success to life.
Or, a method I prefer, you can build a dedicated team around you. A team that consists of team members who know you and your company and the other team members; team members who are a star in their own field - or fields; team members who help you build your company stronger in a consistent way. Team members who have their own business but who will regard you as the team-leader.
When you’ve built just such a team, you’ll find their input is more valuable than diamonds or gold. Liz Strauss writes in her post
How What You Know Can Kill a Business and Thanks for Listening When I Call:
We think we can be the business and still represent the customer. As a result, we end up only thinking that we’re delivering on what the customer wants or needs. The reality is
We can’t be the business and the customer at the same time.
A certain kind of thinking goes into building a product or service. Decisions are made about how the offer works and why it works as it does. When it comes time to judge the value of the finished offer, those who did the thinking can’t forget what they know about how it was made.
It’s impossible to participate in the thinking that builds something and then to respond as if you don’t know what that thinking is.
Creating your ideal coaching practice is going to take quite a bit of TEAM BUILDING on your part.
In other words, it takes a village to build a one person business.
Can you use work from your 9-5 job in your coaching business? A.K.A. “Work for hire”
I begin this post with the following disclaimer: I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY!
THIS POST IS A PLEA FOR YOU TO CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY IF YOU SUSPECT THIS SITUATION APPLIES TO YOU.
Recently, I had a client tell me she planned to open a coaching business which was VERY closely related to her current 9-5 job. Her plans included using resources she created as an employee of a company for her own business. She naturally assumed that since SHE had created these resources, they were hers to use as she wished. All I could think of was Steve Donner and Eudora.
I first became aware of the "work for hire" legal term when I heard the story of Steve Bonner, the creator of the email software program Eudora.
Mark Andreessen, the University of Illinois undergraduate who conceived Mosaic at the same time Dorner was working on Eudora, went on to develop the Netscape Navigator and became a multimillionaire at age 24 when the Netscape Communications Corporation went public. There was no such Cinderella story for Dorner. He left the university staff in 1992, only because he wanted to keep working on Eudora.
Qualcomm Inc., a communications company based in San Diego, signed licensing agreements with the university for the development rights to Eudora and later for the trademark, paying a sum a university official described as "not huge — more than $100,000 and less than $1 million." Dorner became a principal engineer at Qualcomm, working mostly on Eudora. But he did not get a cent in royalties, because the inventions of Eudora and PH were considered work-for-hire by the university.
Basically, work for hire means that when a programmer at Microsoft creates code for a Microsoft Product, Microsoft (not the employee) is the legally recognized owner of the work.
If you are employed full time when you launch your coaching business, make certain to consult with an attorney. Bring any documents you signed when you were hired at your current job. It’s important to note whether you were classified an "independent contractor" or not.
You’ll also want to be aware of this legal term if your clients include companies rather than individuals. Check with your attorney to make sure the training program you developed for a client still belongs to you!
Are you unintentionally helping spammers?
As spam becomes a bigger problem for us all, there are simple steps everyone can do to reduce the number of addresses that land in the spammers hands.
We’ve all been there. Something amusing or interesting comes into our email box and our first instinct is naturally to share this tidbit with everyone in our address book.
Unfortunately, if you share this information with everyone in your address book by using the CC option, you’re not only sharing your email but also the email addresses of everyone involved. You could be sharing those email addresses with more than the recipients listed, but eventually all those addresses could, and probably will, land in the hands of spammers.
That’s why, when you send a broadcast email, you should always use the BCC instead of the CC option. By sending the email BCC (which stands for BLIND Carbon Copy) you’ll shield the other addresses from becoming common knowledge.
Spam is a part of life, but by sharing news and jokes by using the BCC instead of the CC, you’ll greatly reduce the risk of exposing someone’s protected address from the evil spammers.
Trades and Potential Partnerships
Many coaches and consultants, especially those in "start up" mode are often very open to trading their services in order to obtain necessary services. It’s not unusual for start ups to try to conserve cash by trading for logo design services, branding, marketing, web development and other necessary start up expenses.
The key to a successful trade is simple: don’t enter into a trade relationship with someone with whom you wouldn’t be willing to write a check for their services.
As a beginning web developer, many of my web sites were done on trade. In those days, we both won. I needed sites in my portfolio and these clients needed a web presence for their virtual practice.
However, as my practice and skill level progressed, I began to realize that the trades were becoming more and more lopsided. My clients, most of whom were newly minted coaches, were testing their trade skills upon me while I had nearly perfected my trade skills. My portfolio was fat, so it was time to begin saying no to these trade for service agreements.
Soon after I began saying no to trade for service agreements, another type of trade began presenting itself for my practice: the percentage of profits model. The concept was similar to the trade for service agreements of old, with a new twist. I was to be working for a “deferred” cash payment, one which would continue to flow after the work was done.
I was lured several times by the swan song of the partnership ploy. Inevitably, a need for cash would arise and suddenly the partnership would crumble as the would-be entrepreneurs ran for cover.
As I look back to the trade and partnership days, I realize that I allowed that phase to continue much too long in my practice. If I had it to do over again, I would set in advance the number of trade for service agreements I would perform. Those non-cash clients, for the most part, were the most demanding. It’s amazing how unimportant certain aspects of web design and development become when changes are being billed instead of done for free.
Yes, that is how I view those trade agreements in hindsight: they were projects done for free. The value I received was far less than I gave and in the end, those sites don’t even appear in my portfolio anymore. I have since adopted a cause and provide pro-bono web services for this worthy non-profit.
My advice to coaching professionals is simple:
a) set a limit to the number of trades you’ll participate in to build your practice.
b) don’t trade for service with a professional to whom you wouldn’t write a check. Just because a web developer, accountant or even hair stylist will agree to a trade doesn’t mean you should enter into a trade with him/her.
c) Never do pro-bono work for a for-profit company.
d) part of the trade agreement should be a testimonial or letter of recommendation. After all, your goal should be to pad your portfolio of clients.
e) If a coaching client is treating your relationship disrespectfully, then terminate it quickly and professionally. Missed appointments, ignoring assignments and a laid back attitude doesn’t do either of you any good.
Trades and partnerships can be a wonderful way to boost your experience, however they can also drain you of energy you need to promote your business to paying clients. Also realize that referrals from trade agreements usually are the worst kind. Clients tend to recommend other clients like themselves. Do you really want to build your practice on start ups that can’t afford to pay your fees?
View trade agreements for what they are, a way to build your testimonials which will act as a sales tool to help you land clients who are not only willing but able to pay your fees.
Why Traditional Marketing Methods won’t work to promote your Coaching Practice:
I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working with coaching professionals. They’ve come to me because they hoped that a web site would be the “magic bullet” in promoting their coaching practice.
In the last few years, it’s become painfully evident that the difference between successful coaches and coaches who are “barely making it” lies not in the level of expertise at coaching, but rather
Neil Rackham’s book Spin Selling covers the difference between Major Sales and Minor Sales in great detail. Whether your business is making Minor or Major Sales will determine how you structure your marketing and advertising strategy.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the techniques which work so well at moving gallons of milk off of a store’s shelves don’t work as well when applied to say, purchasing mutual funds or buying a home, yet Rackham appears to be breaking new ground in the area of applying these principles to sales thanks to the extensive research compiled by the Huthwaite Institute.
While Rackham’s research and reports on the subject are framed to help an outside sales person perform his/her job more effectively, we will use his observations to help your marketing/advertising message work as yet another productive member of your sales force.
To determine which type of sale your business offers, consider the following:
According to Rackham, your business is making Minor Sales if:
- There is a single decision-maker
- The buyer’s financial or emotional investment is low or insignificant
- The purchase does not warrant the time/energy necessary to research alternatives
- There is little interaction between you and the customer
- The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are inconsequential or insignificant.
On the other hand, your business is making Major Sales if:
- There is more than one decision-maker
- The buyer’s financial and/or emotional investment is significant
- The purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives
- There is the potential for a long-term relationship between you and/or your business and the customer
- The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high
In general, Minor Sales have a buying cycle that is short and are often driven by “desires.” On the other hand, Major Sales tend to involve more time and research on the part of the consumer. While desires drive Minor Sales, goals usually drive Major Sales. Purchasing shampoo is a Minor Sale. Purchasing real estate is a Major Sale.
However, it’s important to note that Major Sales aren’t always expensive. Price is but one of the qualifying criteria for the type of sale. Choosing a babysitter, while not a major expense, certainly qualifies as a Major Sale in the minds of the concerned parents.
Once you’ve identified the type of sale your business makes, let’s look at how the type of sale affects the structure of your advertising message.
Just as in the Minor Sale, your advertising message for the Major Sale has to make a great impression on potential customers in ten seconds or less. You must be able to anticipate the conversation going on inside your potential customer’s mind so you can join in the conversation and you must stay focused on the needs of the customer. In almost every other way, the advertising message for a Major Sale is very different.
Most of the information you’ll get regarding marketing does not take the characteristics of the Major Sale into consideration. While the Minor Sale customer usually buys at the first store that carries the product, the Major Sale customer puts a lot of time and research into the buying decision. The Major Sale customer may visit dozens of different web sites over a period of weeks, or even months, before making a purchase.
By nature, the buyer in a Major Sale requires a lot of information; therefore, the advertising message for the Major Sale needs to provide as much information as possible. Don’t worry about “information overload.” If someone isn’t interested in your product or service then s/he isn’t going to bother to read or listen to your advertising message anyway. In the Major Sale, too much “information” isn’t going to “scare away” an interested potential customer.
When you’re making a Minor Sale, you’re just trying to get people into your store; however, when you’re involved in a Major Sale, the approach is different.
While every business can benefit from a web site, a web presence is especially useful in helping to provide the information necessary to make the Major Sale. The company web site can easily convey the large amount of information necessary to begin gaining the customer’s trust, which is essential to the Major Sale.
To learn more about creating marketing messages for the Major Sale, pick up a copy of the book, Beyond the Niche.
Winning Email Ways
It may sound obvious, e-mail is by nature, a form of written expression. Like it or not, you will be judged by your ability to use upper and lower case letters, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Dotting your i’s, crossing your t’s and making sure your grammar is up to par is only the beginning of developing winning email ways.
As a rule, you should always send e-mail via text rather than html. You’d be surprised how many people do not have html-enabled mail readers. If you use a web based e-mail program (such as Yahoo) make sure that your e-mails are sent in plain text. Each e-mail software program includes a way to send e-mail via plain text. Sending emails in plain text means you can’t alter the font, background or include images in the email, but it ensures that your message does get through. If you want to share a photo, include it as an attachment.
Keep your messages short and to the point. If your message is longer than 2-3 paragraphs, it should either be broken down into multiple e-mails or addressed via the phone or in person.
The subject line of your email should reflect the topic. If you change topics when you reply, then change the subject line. Address multiple points in multiple e-mails.
Line length is controlled by your email software. Keep your line length short. Long lines are difficult to follow. Be sure to include white space between paragraphs. When you reply, trim the included text to the minimum needed to set the context for your reply.
Who among us hasn’t wished for an "unsend" button for email. As a rule, let emotion packed e-mails "cool" for 24 hours. Until the day comes when you computer keyboard has an "undo" key for email, store your message in the drafts folder and look at it 24 hours after composition. THEN decide whether to hit "send".
Maintain a "free" e-mail account via Hotmail or Yahoo. Use this e-mail for e-zines, sweepstakes registrations and other "non secure" areas where an e-mail address is required. Use your "real" e-mail address for family and friends.
Never use cc: to forward a message to several people. It’s possible for e-mail addresses so listed to fall into the hands of an unscrupulous spammer. BCC means BLIND carbon copy. It means the entire list of e-mail addresses is hidden from each recipient’s view.
Another never is never send an e-mail to more than 10 people at once. Most ISP’s view an e-mail to more than 10 addresses as spam. If you want to make sure everyone got your e-mail, put your hotmail or yahoo account as the final address.
Finally, manage your e-mail and don’t let it manage you. Set up an autoresponder so the sender knows their message is received. Set aside a specific time each day to access e-mail and respond. Respond promptly to each e-mail, even if it’s to say "I need to research this".
Time Management and Online Appointment Scheduling
There are a lot of perks to being a solo entrepreneur. Acting as your own receptionist isn’t one of them.
That’s why most coaching professionals need online appointment scheduling. Since you’re viewing this web site, you already have all the necessary equipment to accept appointments online — a computer with Internet access. The rest is provided by Online Appointment Scheduling, a web-based appointment scheduling solution that fits your business and your budget.
Online Appointment Scheduling makes it convenient and easy for you to accept appointments over the Internet. Start booking appointments online and spend less time juggling your appointment book and more time working with clients.
Offering a free first session is a great way to attract new clients. However, getting potential clients to make the giant leap of scheduling their complimentary session can sometimes be difficult. Even the late Master Coach Thomas Leonard recommends offering the ability to schedule appointments online instantly. Read his article here.
Our Online Scheduling makes it easy for potential clients to book their free consultation and easy for you to maintain your online scheduling.
Any time of the day or night, you and your clients (and potential clients) can log on and to check your availability. Web visitors can quickly and easily book their free session. You’ll be surprised to see not only how many more bookings you get, but how many come in at odd hours. Current clients can book their appointments online too, freeing you up to do what you do best.
Use this link for a free 30 day trial with an easy to use RELIABLE online appointment scheduling tool
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