Maybe you’re seeking a credential and need to fulfill your mentor coaching requirements. Perhaps, you’re looking to strengthen your coaching skills and take your business and earning ability to a higher level. No matter your reason for seeking a mentor, there is one key question: How do you go about finding one?

While the idea might seem overwhelming at first, breaking the process down into manageable chunks will allow you find your mentor coach with ease and confidence!

Think About ‘What,’ not ‘Who’
Before you begin thinking about “who”, it’s important to think about “what”. What type of person do you want to work with? Until you know the qualities you’re looking for, you could interview all the mentor coaches in the world and not be sure you’ve found the right one. So, step one, is to get clear about your requirements and needs.

The main areas to examine are their experience, qualifications, methodology, and chemistry. Let’s talk first about experience and qualifications.

Defining the experience you’d like your mentor to have is the first step. After all, the VERY reason you are seeking a mentor is because of their unique experience.

If you’re seeking a credential, you will need a PCC or MCC coach. If you are simply looking to advance your skills, ask yourself what type of coach you would prefer learning from (leadership coach, team coach, life coach, spiritual coach?) What specialization will mesh with your own coaching orientation while still expanding your horizons?

If you are looking to build revenue, think about what a successful practice looks like to you and see if their practice aligns with your vision. Look at how they have built their business. How many clients do they coach and what type? You want someone who is powerful, professional and successful in their own right.

Be sure to ask your potential mentor about their experience in mentoring, assessing, and teaching other coaches! Coaching clients is one thing. Mentoring coaches is another. They are different skill sets, so determine if your potential mentor meets your needs in both areas. Do they mentor coaches “ad hoc” or do they have a fully thought-out program replete with resources and tools to help you succeed?

Methodology
Once you know your mentor’s experience and qualifications, the next important area to think about is how you like to learn. Think back on past relationships—work or school—to reflect on the teaching styles that have worked best for you.

Do you like to listen, reflect, and digest or do you like to dive in and work through information in a more kinesthetic way? Do you prefer someone who is laid back or do you need someone to push your boundaries to help you achieve new heights? Thinking about how you best learn will help you avoid a mistake.

Find out how the mentoring is structured. How long are the session? Are they group sessions or one on one? What do you actually do in each session–learn competencies and practice, or all practice? How will they measure your progress? How often? Do they provide you with written or verbal feedback?

Using Intuition to Detect Chemistry
Now it’s time to find and select your mentor! I suggest interviewing at least three coaches and starting with the basic questions about the coach’s background, training, and credentials to find out if they meet your first level of requirements.

What personality will you work best with? Think about the people who naturally bring out the best in you. What dynamic would make for a good flow of information and learning?

Does this person really get you? How do you feel when you are around them? Do they see you for who you really are? Do they believe in your potential? Do you feel safe with this person? Was there as easy flow of communication? Will you be able to be open and honest with them? Are you satisfied with their level of transparency? Can they see your blindspots? Can they hear beyond your words to help you identify your personal obstacles to breakthrough coaching? Can they take you where you want to go?

Even if a coach has the experience and qualifications you’re seeking, if something doesn’t feel right, heed that feeling. Taking time for reflection after an interview will help you hear what your intuition thinks while processing the facts you’ve gathered.

Selecting a mentor coach is NOT just picking the person with the most experience or selecting someone based on a great recommendation. Your mentor coach should be someone you feel safe with, who can also firmly but respectfully push you out of your comfort zone. You should feel as though you want to emulate some of their coaching behaviors. Not only do they have to meet your criteria on paper, they also have to light a spark in you!

Taking time to think about the qualities you’d like in a mentor coach before you start the search and then reflecting on the facts and feelings after each interview will empower you to find the coach who will propel you to the next level in your coaching, practice, and career.

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC All Rights Reserved

Paulette Rao, MCC is an executive coach, mentor coach, speaker, trainer, marketing expert, and founder of the Conscious Coaching Institute, which is dedicated to the training and development of coaches. Through her OneSourceTM and Conscious MarketingTM training programs, Paulette helps coaches develop mastery, get credentialed, and create sustainable revenue doing what they love.

Paulette’s OneSourceTM course is a comprehensive ICF credentialing program aimed at assisting coaches in developing in the ICF competencies so they are superbly positioned to pass the ICF credentialing exam with confidence. Through Paulette’s Conscious MarketingTM classes, she helps coaches gain the clarity and confidence to easily attract the clients they most want to work with to consistently make money doing what they love. More information about both programs, along with more information about Paulette, can be found at www.ConsciousCoachingInstitute.com.

Think of the last time you catapulted a client to the next level in their thinking by using your intuition. A coach’s intuition is invaluable, allowing you to catalyze new awareness for your clients.

Now, think about the last time you instinctively knew what your next marketing tactic should be, replete with a clear marketing message? I imagine this is a bit more difficult.

Although these seem like two unrelated scenarios, there is one skill that should be present in both of these instances. And that skill is intuition!

When it comes to marketing, your intuition beckons you to rely on it.  Don’t get me wrong. Logical, well-drawn out marketing plans have a rightful place. But having plans with many moving pieces can distract you from your intuitive self. Marketing can start to look and feel like an endless stream of tactics that easily disconnect you from your purpose, leaving you feeling disconnected and unmotivated. Thinking about what to do first and when might stop you from taking action at all.  Even coaches with finely honed intuition get stopped cold in their tracks. They wonder:

How do I tell others about what I can offer, yet not come across pushy?

How do I grow my practice, without being perceived as “selling” myself?

How can I get people to take action now?

The fear these questions engender combined with a dislike for and perhaps, inexperience in marketing can make any coach want to run and put their head in the sand.  Herein lies the problem. Many coaches mistake these fears about marketing for intuition! Fear becomes an obtrusive false voice that shouts over the more subtle voice of intuition, which sometimes is simply a feeling. A feeling we should take a certain action that will lead us to our intended results.

This quiet voice is the one you really need to be listening to! So, how do you distinguish one voice from the other?  It’s a matter of LOCATION.

Think about a time when you helped a client facilitate change. Now, think about the actions that stemmed from your desire to help them create that change?  Where did you feel what you were doing was the right thing?

While there is science behind your methodology, there is also a feeling of what the next right action is that originates in your core. Most people refer to it as a ‘gut’ feeling. It sounds like the truth would if your heart and soul could speak.

Next, think of something scary you’ve been contemplating, perhaps, a new marketing campaign, expanding your services, raising your fees. Where is this feeling originating from? Does it come from the same emotional and spiritual place –your core—that place of authenticity? I’d guess not.

See if you can “locate” the feelings of fear and doubt.  These feelings live higher up in your body—in your mind, actually. These are the feelings that persist in haunting you with their insistence on what is not possible for you. They distract you, keep you awake at night, keep you stuck or hiding from your best self. Mind chatter.

Doubt and fear do not originate from, nor point at, truth whereas intuition IS your truth.

Allowing it to work THROUGH you and your marketing efforts will help you manage fear and doubt, such that you can speak and act from a place of purpose. Marketing from this place feels organic, natural, and spirit-filled. It is attractive and others are drawn to you and what you have to offer.

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                                          All Rights Reserved

Paulette Rao, MCC is an executive coach, mentor coach, speaker, trainer, marketing expert, and founder of the Conscious Coaching Institute, which is dedicated to the training and development of coaches. Through her OneSource^TM and Conscious Marketing^TM training programs, Paulette helps coaches develop mastery, get credentialed, and create sustainable revenue doing what they love.

Paulette’s OneSource^TM course is a comprehensive ICF credentialing program aimed at assisting coaches in developing in the ICF competencies so they are superbly positioned to pass the ICF credentialing exam with confidence. Through Paulette’s Conscious Marketing^TM classes, she helps coaches gain the clarity and confidence to easily attract the clients they most want to work with to consistently make money doing what they love. More information about both programs, along with more information about Paulette, can be found at www.ConsciousCoachingInstitute.com.

What if I told you a story about a young man who ran for government office twelve times and lost?

How about a young, poor girl in Mississippi, who was sexually abused at the age of 9 and delivered a stillborn child after becoming pregnant at 14?

What about a young man raised by his widowed mother in near poverty in South Carolina, who became a prisoner of war at 13 and lost his both his mother and brother at age 14?

These people are Abraham Lincoln, Oprah Winfrey, and Andrew Jackson, respectively.

We often hear about another’s success as if it materialized out of thin air. We rarely hear of their earlier struggles. If you heard these stories without knowing who they were about, you probably would have said “That person has no shot at success.”

Many people perceive of their own life with obstacles to overcome and odds to beat. We ask “How can I start a business?”  “I don’t have enough experience.” “People don’t want to hear me talk about coaching.” “How I can raise my rates in this economy?”

But, this is only one way to think about it. In actuality, there is nothing to fight, nothing to defeat, nothing to rise above. The truth is we become what we believe, not what we wish for, but what we truly believe. Wherever you are in life, look at your beliefs. They put you there. The very things we perceive as obstacles do not matter as much as we think they do. This shift in perspective miraculously frees us to move forward with intent and power.

There is no struggle. Nothing to overcome. There are just your beliefs about it.

Your past doesn’t really matter.

Your current circumstances don’t really matter.

What people think and say doesn’t really matter.

What the voices of fear and doubt say to you do not really matter.

What you believe—now, that’s what matters!

We often have two competing voices in our mind; one is confident and one is scared. I know. I experience them! What are the things your fear tells you? I’m sure there are a lot of “what if’s” or “if only’s.” “If only I had more experience,” or “what if I don’t succeed?” or “if only I had more financial support”,” but what matters is who you are, in your core, and what you believe – these are the qualities and types of thoughts that will propel you forward in a spirit of creation.

So how do we overcome the “what if’s” and “if only’s”? Do we ignore our fears or pretend our doubts don’t exist? That clearly won’t work. The way to handle fear is to become conscious of it—acknowledge it—and move on. Realize the fear exists, and then refocus your thoughts. Give these thoughts as little energy as possible and give your beliefs this energy instead. It will propel you forward, instead of draining you. Each time these thoughts appear, let them go and refocus.

When I think from my core, from what I truly believe, I feel free, focused, and powerful, because I am coming from a place of authenticity and truth. This isn’t always easy, but it does get easier with practice! There have certainly been times when I’ve been creating a new curriculum, or learning skills that pushed my boundaries, where I have heard the voice of doubt.

There will always be many reasons why you shouldn’t attempt something. Any of them could stop you in your tracks and prevent you from fulfilling your vision of the future. Over time, I have learned to stick with what I believe and follow my vision, rather than let fear take hold.

What you believe is what will carry you to your future vision and make it your reality.

Your obstacles? They are what you make of them.

What would you attempt if the voices of doubt didn’t matter?

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                                                   All Rights Reserved

Paulette Rao, MCC is an executive coach, mentor coach, speaker, trainer, marketing expert, and founder of the Conscious Coaching Institute, which is dedicated to the training and development of coaches. Through her OneSource^TM and Conscious Marketing^TM training programs, Paulette helps coaches develop mastery, get credentialed, and create sustainable revenue doing what they love.

Paulette’s OneSource^TM course is a comprehensive ICF credentialing program aimed at assisting coaches in developing in the ICF competencies so they are superbly positioned to pass the ICF credentialing exam with confidence. Through Paulette’s Conscious Marketing^TM classes, she helps coaches gain the clarity and confidence to easily attract the clients they most want to work with to consistently make money doing what they love. More information about both programs, along with more information about Paulette, can be found at www.ConsciousCoachingInstitute.com.

Building Client Trust: 4-3-2-1 Done!

Who are the top three people you trust?

I bet there is a significant level of comfort and reliability inherent in those relationships. They are people you can count on. They have your back.

As coaches, we know that building trust is the hallmark of a successful engagement. Trust enables coaches to push people past their limits while providing a safety net as they reach for their goals. But how do you build trust when you are marketing to people you don’t know? It’s challenging to build trust when all you have is your marketing messages. You must get someone’s attention, maintain their interest, and build their desire to learn more, all while creating a path for them to come to know, like, and eventually trust you.

Trust is a function of both character and competence–BEING as well as DOING.  Let’s look at the key components for creating an environment that allows trust to flourish.

BE CREDIBILE: Your credibility boils down to your integrity, capabilities, and results. First, you must get your message out. Being seen and heard is key to building credibility. It establishes you in the minds of others as someone who can solve their problem. Get in front of the people you feel are the best fit for you and offer them a ‘free’ taste of your character and abilities, so they can experience what it would be like to work with you. Let your integrity and capacity to achieve results speak for you. As they begin to see the positive results from their interactions with you, your credibility builds.

BE PRESENT: Your listening skills, language, passion, and knowledge all contribute towards creating presence. We know being present is the foundation for creating intimacy and trust. We have all had an experience where we felt connected to and inspired by someone we just met because they were being authentic with us. While writing and speaking can pave the way towards building client trust, it all “clicks” when you are actively engaged with someone. You know you are present when both parties are at ease, comfortable, and interested in the conversation. Being present means you are listening FOR them and TO them, and contributing to the exchange from a place of knowledge and passion — not just talking about you and your services.

BE CONSISTENT: Reliability, reputation, and consistency are cornerstones of being trusted in the marketplace. Clear and confident communication demonstrates these qualities to others – You have to say what you mean and mean what you say. Simple. Direct. True. Inconsistency in your follow through or execution will undermine all your effort. Your actions much match your commitment and you should strive to “over deliver” every time.

BE INTENTIONAL: Intention is having an agenda. In the case of marketing, the agenda is that your client reaches their desired outcome. When you genuinely want others to win and enjoy helping them do that, you inspire authentic trust.  What you say and how you act is the manifestation of your agenda. The behavior that best establishes your intentions and inspires trust is acting in the best interest of others.  When people know we have their back, they will naturally trust us.

Trust does not exist in a vacuum. It is only when you are CREDIBLE, PRESENT, CONSISTENT and INTENTIONAL that you generate the flow that inspires people to work with you. When you are conscious to these qualities and manifest them in your interactions with others, it creates a fertile ground for trust to flourish.

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                                          All Rights Reserved

Paulette Rao, MCC is an executive coach, mentor coach, speaker, trainer, marketing expert, and founder of the Conscious Coaching Institute, which is dedicated to the training and development of coaches. Through her OneSource^TM and Conscious Marketing^TM training programs, Paulette helps coaches develop mastery, get credentialed, and create sustainable revenue doing what they love.

Paulette’s OneSource^TM course is a comprehensive ICF credentialing program aimed at assisting coaches in developing in the ICF competencies so they are superbly positioned to pass the ICF credentialing exam with confidence. Through Paulette’s Conscious Marketing^TM classes, she helps coaches gain the clarity and confidence to easily attract the clients they most want to work with to consistently make money doing what they love. More information about both programs, along with more information about Paulette, can be found at www.ConsciousCoachingInstitute.com.

A common thread that coaches share is an authentic desire to guide and inspire others to take actions that propel them towards their goals. Therefore, it was natural for me to emerge from my personal certification process with a strong desire to facilitate others’ credentialing journey using my experience and hard–won insights as a frame so they can arrive at their destination feeling confident to ace the exam!

Having been through the process I know first-hand how tedious and time-consuming it can be. Just the thought of sorting through the paperwork, understanding the requirements, and evaluating where you are in relation to them can feel overwhelming.

The good news is that I have learned the best practices for making it easy. I have taken my recipe for navigating this process and formalized it so I can help others move through the continuum—be it gaining their first credential or advancing through to the PCC or  MCC level.

If you are considering getting your credential or going for the next one and are feeling overwhelmed, or experiencing fear or hesitation, hold these thoughts in mind:

Keep your eye on the prize. It is so easy to lose sight of the prize when you’re buried in the minutiae of gathering the necessary data. The aim of certification is to create a distinction for yourself that underscores your professionalism and sets you apart. Remind yourself that this journey will yield an enormous return on your investment.

Chunk it down and just take step one. When you look at the myriad pieces of the certification process individually, you will find it remarkably do-able. Avoid thinking about it like running a marathon, and adopt a stage by stage approach instead. I like to say the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The first bite is to call a coach you respect to act as your mentor—the rest will fall into place if you select well. Taking the first step is more than half the battle! Start now. In three months time, you will feel and be ready to take the exam!

Select a mentor who will make it dynamic, fun, and whose middle name is organization. If they have a structure to lend you, all you need to do is show up! A good mentor will literally walk you through the process, step by step, week to week. Before you know it, you have all your data captured, feeling confident to demonstrate the core competencies in a conversation.

If trust is a function of competence and commitment, then, an ICF credential signals to potential clients that you are trusted by the closest entity this industry has to a governing board to facilitate change. When you look at the value inherent in that, in dollars and sense, why wouldn’t you start the process now so you can reap the rewards sooner rather than later? There is never going to be a “better” time to get credentialed.

Paradigm shift: a buzz phrase worthy of exploring. What is it? How do we create it for ourselves as a coach and/or as an entrepreneur?

A paradigm shift isn’t just a change- Change is the end result of a paradigm shift. An authentic paradigm shift is about TRANSFORMATION.

Change results in using different means to the same end. Transformation results from shifting into different attitudes and mindsets.  Change rarely leads to transformation, but transformation always leads to tangible change.

Look at it this way. The form of our thinking already exists: hence, information. Growing means we need to actually change the form itself, hence, transformation.

A paradigm shift starts with examining the way we think and what we believe. And so it is with marketing. We think that a paradigm shift in marketing would mean DOING more or better things like using updated technology, smart phones, web strategies, blogging, and social media.

But transformation, which is more about how we are BEING, happens in the mind and heart. How do we foster that?

Jack Mezirow, the ‘father’ of Transformative Learning said that learning occurs when we rethink our frame of reference, challenge our assumptions and beliefs, and decide to make a conscious plan for redefining our world–“becoming critically aware of one’s own tacit assumptions and expectations and those of others and assessing their relevance for making an interpretation.”

First, an individual has to become aware of holding a limiting or distorted view. If the individual critically examines this view, opens herself to alternatives, and ultimately changes the way she sees things, she has transformed some part of her personal paradigm.

What is tricky about transformation is that we equate past experience with TRUTH. A bad experience buying a car or renting an apartment means sales people and brokers are shady. Disappointment the first time we actually saw the burger from that infamous commercial means that marketing is tantamount to deception.

What are your ingrained perceptions of marketing? What feelings come up when you think about having to market yourself?

It may take a significant event, like not being able to sustain your business, to lead you to question your assumptions and beliefs about marketing.  In my 30 years of marketing experience, I’ve come to see that there is a way to transform mindsets of FEAR into COURAGE, SCARCITY into ABUNDANCE, CONFUSION into CALM, PERFECTIONISM into ADVENTURE, IMPATIENCE into EASE.

Without a paradigm shift in your marketing mindsets, you’ll be caught in the same old struggles as before. Your business will be stagnant and your efforts will yield meager results.

What would be possible if you approached your coaching practice with these mindsets transformed?

Rather than being STOPPED BY FEAR, enthusiasm would propel you forward to speak about what you do with confidence.

Instead of making excuses such as not having enough time to try new things, you’d use courage to explore new ways of marketing.

“No” would not derail you, and you’d understand that making mistakes is HUMAN and OK.

Marketing would stop being this thing you hate, and resurrect itself as something you are excited to do.

You would adapt new tools, strategies, and ideas to make your messaging memorable.

Your marketing would lead you to new experiences, people, and conversations that you had never imagined.

You would give up your fixed belief of marketing being hard and take on the ease and grace of marketing yourself authentically.

An authentic paradigm shift allows you to see a truth that already existed, but was mucked over with years of negative experiences.

True transformation happens when we get CONSCIOUS. It leads to lasting change that you can truly build the future on.

Are YOU ready to give up old mindsets in favor of ones that work?

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                            All Rights Reserved

Paulette Rao, MCC is an executive coach, mentor coach, speaker, trainer, marketing expert, and founder of the Conscious Coaching Institute, which is dedicated to the training and development of coaches. Through her OneSource^TM and Conscious Marketing^TM training programs, Paulette helps coaches develop mastery, get credentialed, and create sustainable revenue doing what they love.

Paulette’s OneSource^TM course is a comprehensive ICF credentialing program aimed at assisting coaches in developing in the ICF competencies so they are superbly positioned to pass the ICF credentialing exam with confidence. Through Paulette’s Conscious Marketing^TM classes, she helps coaches gain the clarity and confidence to easily attract the clients they most want to work with to consistently make money doing what they love. More information about both programs, along with more information about Paulette, can be found at www.ConsciousCoachingInstitute.com.

Creating a successful practice requires that we learn new skill sets and mind sets. Developing new skills requires taking in new information and applying it over time. New mindsets, however, are more challenging because we’re often not aware of the ones we already have! They’re below the surface. They are tacit assumptions and beliefs that are operating, but without our conscious awareness. We may not see them, but we do experience them through our tangible results.

Disempowering mindsets can be dangerous because they’ve been so deeply ingrained for so long that you believe them to be “true”.  It’s not a matter of being true or not. It’s a matter of whether they serve you. If they don’t, it’s time to think about creating new ones.

This requires taking an inside out approach. Meaning, first look at how you think about marketing yourself to get to the root cause of your behaviors and disappointing results. You could have a first-class marketing plan that you paid a bunch of money to a marketing expert to create, but if you don’t deal with your inside first—what’s driving you—it won’t matter.

Once you look inside and identify your stoppers or stallers, you can get cracking on the outside, crafting your key marketing messages and writing an impactful marketing plan. Then, and only then, will you start seeing the results you want and deserve.

When I started my consulting and coaching practice I struggled with how to speak naturally about what I did for people. I hated the idea of “selling” myself. I felt shy about it and feared rejection. I wanted my dialogue to feel confident, easy, and authentic—like talking about a food preference. I knew had to think of marketing in a new way if I wanted a shift in how I was feeling. I had to create new mental mindsets that would open the door for me to speak in a natural way about the results people or organizations get from me.

My first step in going inside out was to literally question the definitions I held for selling and marketing. What meaning did I assign to these words and how were those meanings affecting me?

Prior to venturing out as an entrepreneur, I spent three decades as a sales and marketing leader in a corporate environment. It was about killing competition, getting last look for an unfair advantage, fire in the belly, and bringing home bear. I reflected on the language and concepts that were “hardwired” in my brain. And through my coach training, I learned how simple it is to create new wiring–all it takes is mindful attention.

It became glaringly obvious that the fear and mental mindsets that led me to “success” as others defined it in the previous career were negatively impacting my ability to show up authentically as the conscious entrepreneur I am today. I had to re-connect with my, as yet, unspoken mindsets that would support a vision of myself as someone who stands for commerce with conscience.

At first, thinking in a new way about marketing myself had me feeling stuck. I couldn’t find my essential kernels truth under all the muck. The way I wanted to show up and speak about my gifts felt murky. Simply noticing this, time and again allowed for the crack in the foundation of my previous thinking.

Eventually the crack became a chasm and, in that space, my true belief system lived. At first, uttering the new mindsets aloud felt like rote affirmations, but over time, I grew into them.

I believe that marketing is revealing who you are and what you offer, authentically and naturally, in order to attract and engage the people you most want to work with. It’s about falling in love with what you’re offering every time you talk about it and, then, inviting others to experience that.

And selling is no more than facilitating a process whereby you enable someone with a problem to make a decision they already know they want. It’s delivering a solution to a person seeking it, creating an exchange of value. Analogous to our role as a coach in that we hold a process that creates a space for someone to find their solution.

I invite you to explore your current mindsets around marketing and selling. What meanings have you assigned to these concepts? Journal whatever comes to mind and see for yourself where you stand. Once you can identify your current “inside” reality, look around “outside” to see what support you can garner to transform your mindsets to support your vision for yourself as a profitable, conscious entrepreneur.

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                                          All Rights Reserved

Stories are powerful tools you can use to communicate without selling. They allow you to share useful information about your contribution without engaging in ‘sales talk’.

The aim of telling a story is to share a specific scenario in which you helped someone in their particular situation solve a specific problem, and do it in a way that demonstrates your ability and commitment.

Why do stories work as opposed to selling?

When you’re selling, you’re either talking about yourself or you are cross-examining. Neither of these creates a safe space for relationship building and intimacy. In fact, you might be offending or boring the client or making an unattractive ‘pitch’.

Telling a client success story lets you share information about your competence without hyperbole or cliché. It gives you a chance to demonstrate how your talent and the services you offer, provides a solution to their problem.

Stories must focus on your results–not on what coaching is and how it works. Why? Because people don’t buy definitions, labels or processes; they buy results. They don’t wake up in the middle of the night saying “I need a coach!” They stay awake thinking: “I need to make more money”, “I’m completely out of shape” , “If I don’t straighten out my team, I risk getting down-sized” , “If I don’t find a relationship, I’ll grow old alone”. You get it.

You have to be able to articulate the solution you offer to each person. That starts with knowing the top problems that motivate your ideal client into action. Practice weaving the top problems and your solution into a powerful, well-rehearsed story regarding a third party in a similar situation. Your story should demonstrate that you have a clear understanding of their challenge, have solved this challenge before and that you’re capable of doing that with/for them.

The goal of the story is to create trust and establish credibility. By establishing credibility you allow the person to identify with the story and see themselves benefiting from the results you bring. The client now knows that you understand their dreams and obstacles.

The recipe for a powerful client story? Include as much of these facts as feel relevant:

The target market; WHO were you serving?

The problem you solved: WHAT was your client’s dilemma?

The solution you delivered: HOW did you help the client overcome the dilemma?

WHAT additional VALUE did your solution bring to the client?

Why YOU? Why you are CREDIBLE to do this? What sets you apart?

Then, invite them to take a small action to test what it would be like to work with you.

Your aim is to engage in a natural conversation, sprinkled with stories that allow for the client to start to know, like, and trust you. You then start to build RELATIONSHIP. This will help them see you as competent, fair, resourceful, and capable.

Once stories become a part of how you talk about what coaching can do, you will experience a new level of ease in marketing!

Copyright 2010 Paulette Rao, MCC                                          All Rights Reserved

What do you charge for coaching?

Did you just cringe? When this question emerges from the mouth of a potential client, many of my clients can’t hear over the cacophony of gremlin choruses reaching crescendo pitch.

Their inability to remain conscious when the topic of money comes up mitigates their ability to set rates that honor their value and create sustainability for their business.

Let’s explore some popular money mindsets, aka gremlin scripts, one-by-one and see what’s really going on.

“I don’t have enough experience to charge more.”

Really? How many hours did you train? What did that cost in time and money? And by the way, isn’t professional development a tenet, if not a downright requirement, for those who have a credential or are seeking one?

Also, I’m curious, how many hours are enough? What’s the magic number that will have you thinking you are “there”? Aren’t you always learning? Isn’t that the nature of our profession?

As coaches, we get paid to learn and give away what we’re learning in real time. Learning makes us more valuable to our clients—it does not undervalue us.

As with all limiting thoughts, you have to shift your mindset. Instead of seeing your desire and need for professional development as evidence of not having arrived, can you see how it creates more value?

Eckhart Tolle says that the spirit-filled teacher never thinks she’s ready; there’s always something more to learn.

I don’t know about you, but I do my best work when I am in engaged in professional development. I am on fire when I’m learning, and I give my best as a result.

“Who am I to charge more than/as much as them?”

The only valid comparison is that between the value you provide and the cost of your service. Simply put, the return on investment. Why make this more complicated?

It doesn’t serve to look at everybody else’s rates because they’re all looking at yours and almost everyone winds up undercharging. It’s a disempowering cycle. Break the chain.

In terms of hard dollars and soft benefits, gauge the impact of your solution in your clients’ life and business. What is the value of finding a soul mate or getting their business into high gear? What do they really get? What is that worth—in both dollars and life enhancing benefits?  That’s how much you charge!

“I wouldn’t pay that much.”

Come on! I don’t believe you. If you really thought that, would you have forked over thousands of dollars for coach training? You know for a fact that you would pay for a desired outcome that was important to you. Guess what? That means others would, too.

Besides, what price is “too much” for someone who wants to manifest a dream?

“My clients can’t afford to pay that.”

Now, you’re thinking for your clients. Our code of ethics states that we honor the clients’ ability to think for themselves. But you’re deciding for them how they should spend their money. If rate setting were a coach competency, you just failed because you set an agenda for the client!

As coaches, we don’t give people fish; we teach them how to fish. As practitioners of self-directed learning, it is our charter to allow clients to make their own decisions about what they spend and where. Our clients are responsible for their own financial decisions. Period.

I hear you pushing back. What about the client who just got laid off and for whom money is an issue? When money is tight, it might be time to re-assess non-essential expenditures like fancy dinners or a luxury vacation, but not the very thing that will ensure their ability to get back on track! It is presumptuous and dangerous to decide for someone else that they can’t afford to get back into the drivers seat to create an income!

Besides, if you make that decision for them and charge less than your service is worth, just think of the example you’re setting for your clients. You’re literally robbing them of the opportunity to be inspired to recognize and claim their value!

If we’re going to charge what our service is worth we have to change our thinking. We have to create a new mindset based on value—return on investment. Then, and only then, will we be of most value to our clients.

Do you know what stands in the way of claiming your value?

What is it going to take for you to set rates that reflect your contribution?

Give yourself permission to create new money paradigms—ones that support building a sustainable practice. And, hey, start charging what you’re worth!

My favorite quote ever is Marianne Williamson’s “Our Deepest Fear.”

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

You may be wondering what this has to do with marketing. Let’s take a closer look at “we are powerful beyond measure.” We are all using our power, all the time, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Almost 90 percent of thinking is subconscious, which means we operate on autopilot most of our lives. If that’s the case, we’ve got to look at what’s hardwired because it’s responsible for our outcomes. We want to take notice of what we’re thinking about, as it informs our actions. The outer is created by the inner.

So, how are you using your power? In other words, how are you thinking about marketing? Do you think marketing is annoying to people? That no one is going to buy in this economy? That you need more training before you can market yourself? That you need to lower your fees until you earn a certain credential?

If any of these resonate, I bet you’re using your power to attract struggle and lack.

The first thing we’ve got to do is awaken to what we are REALLY thinking. Take a hard look at what keeps us from letting our “light shine.” I’m not talking about symptoms such as time management or procrastination, or lack of marketing know-how. Nope. I don’t buy any of that, actually. I’m asking what is driving that behavior? What fear? What self-limiting thought or question lingers for you? Still, after all these years.

Since you own your power, it’s simply a matter of getting back into the drivers seat to harness it, taking advantage of one of the greatest gifts we have—the ability to change our fear-based thinking.

“As we are liberated from our fear” we stop worrying about the future and get present to what we deserve and who we’re capable of becoming. Our new way of thinking becomes hardwired over time and helps us create the sustainable business that “liberates others” and allows them to experience our gift.

It then becomes a habit to use our power to generate a continual flow of clients, making money doing what we love, and receiving accolades for work done well.

And it all starts with getting conscious. Are you ready to harness your power so that you’re creating what you want for your business? Are you ready to let your light shine?