By Naomi Johnson

In 2008 after a catalogue of mistakes I had to walk away from my coaching business having invested three hard years of blood, sweat and tears. It was a devastating blow that took me a full 18 months to recover from. In fact I am still paying off the debt that I accumulated during this time, an amount more than I had ever earned in a year.

At breaking point I was subletting my bedroom, sleeping on the sofa and eating baked beans for every meal, opening the can with a knife because I couldn’t afford a new tin opener. My creditors were phoning 7 times a day. I had no peace and I was beside myself.

I am a sensible person and very capable of running a business. In the first 9 months of starting I had 10 individual clients, two corporate coaching gigs and an exclusive contract with a recruitment company within my niche. So how did it all go so wrong?

If you’ll permit me I’d like to tell you. If sharing this with you saves others from the same fate it is worthwhile. Sometimes learning from those who have got it wrong is the most powerful. Today I’ve taken all of these lessons on board and radically changed my results.

Being young, free and single I took every advantage that life afforded me to give this new career my very best shot. I was smart, intelligent and perfectly capable of making this business work. I started out well. In my first 9 months I had 10 individual clients, two corporate gigs and an exclusive deal with a recruitment company associated with my niche. So how did it go so wrong? Here are 18 valuable lessons I learned in my 3 years.

1. Lack of confidence in my Marketing Strategy
Getting started I was lucky enough to stumble upon a joint venture with an Anthony Robbins Ticket Seller. This was great resource bringing me hot and primed leads. After this I was on my own. Not clear on my niche I blew with the wind responding to things that looked and felt good at the time i.e. whatever I thought looked profitable. I didn’t have confidence that my marketing efforts would pay off, so I kept changing it hoping the next thing would magically work. I never gave the strategy a chance though, and each change brought more work and more self doubt.

Lesson: Choose a niche, seek professional advice, get accountability and follow the steps necessary for producing the result you have invested in.

2. Investing in ineffective Marketing Strategies
Without a clear marketing strategy it was hard to choose the right marketing avenues and right message. Responding to ‘good offers’ from cold callers or associations, I wasted a lot of money gambling money I didn€’t have on advertising thinking ‘this is going to work’. Each advert I would tailor to the reader, but my inconsistent approach lead to ineffective adverts that didn’t correspond with my website or overall message (if I had one at all). The gamble never paid off, my overheads were creeping up and my income was declining.

Lesson: Consider long and hard about advertising and make sure it fits with your business objectives. Never make snap decisions and be 100% focused on your niche at all times.

3. Believing I was a ‘poor start up’
When I began I had no financial resource what so ever so I believed I had no money to invest in hiring a specialist to help me with my marketing strategy. Strangely though whenever the need was great enough (usually heightened by a talented speaker on the stage) I could always find more money. I clocked up a lot of debt that proves that even though I said ‘I can’t afford it’ – I could! I look at the sum of money I’d invested by the end and think ‘If I knew I had this amount of financial resource available to me I could have made a lot of better decisions. Like invest in a mentoring programme!

Lesson: We often believe we can’t afford something but it is simply that we value something else greater. There is nothing greater than getting specialist tailored advise from a proven mentor in your field.

4. Lack of confidence in my Niche
Beginning out I was confident in my niche, only problem was that my niche couldn’t pay and were unlikely to choose coaching as an option. As I needed to seek alternative ways of engaging with them I began taking on clients based on whom I met and who would agree to pay me money. Frequently this would put me in a strained position, as I wasn’t the expert. Often it would take me all over the country increasing my costs and using up my time, time that could have been better spent elsewhere.

Lesson: Choose a profitable niche and create sensible boundaries around what you will and won’t do with regard to your finances, energy and lifestyle

5. Not paying close enough attention to the overheads
My overheads were continuing to increase; yet my income was not. Charging £100 an hour I thought I could easily recoup on my investments and profit. However I didn’t take the time to review the truth about my situation and project it into the future i.e. if I continue in this manner where will I be financially in 12 months time?

Lesson: Always project your income into the future and work out where you’ll be in 12 months time if you don’t improve your methods

6. Believing that tomorrow it would all work out
Even when I was looking at the overheads, not having boundaries and taking jobs where I could find them, lead to high overheads and poor returns. I kept on believing that ‘tomorrow it would pay off’, but the truth was that ‘tomorrow I would have to pay it off’. My success at attracting clients thus far gave me confidence that things would work out eventually, but the constant gamble created stress that lead to my inability to perform in a sensible manner, let alone authentically as a coach. I kept making short-term decisions to try and combat the financial problem, when the only thing that was ever going to work was a long-term solution.

Lesson: Work to ensure that you’re always in a steady position so you’re able to follow long-term business strategies not short term ones.

7. Expecting too much of my business in the early days
Quitting my job so I could focus 100% on this new career meant that I had to get my business paying immediately or I was building up debt. This approach was very much like planting a vegetable patch and expecting to eat from its harvest the very next day. Even worse, was expecting the vegetable patch to be able to feed me for a year, when it would have taken an entire field to do so. My business model was such that I would never be able to earn the money I was projecting.

Lesson: A new business is unlikely to be able to pay for your livelihood in its first few years and whatever profit it does make, you have to re-invest to grow and sustain the business. Get the right business model ASAP!

8. Not focusing on money making activities
We all got into coaching because we wanted to help people right? This is all very good but we’ve also all heard the saying ‘Apply your own oxygen mask first’. I spent a lot of time working on charity projects believing in ‘givers gain’. However this simply distracted me from my core business and my core need – to feed and house myself. Further to this, I was messing around on things within the business that I thought were important yet didn’t get any return on investment.

Lesson: Before moving on to bigger things you must first make sure the basics are taken care of. Ensure you focus on the high profit tasks and don’t waste time on tasks that don’t bring in the money.

9. Firing my Coach

When I got started I was smart enough to hire a Business Coach. Having the consistent ‘check in’ really did help. It focused me on my objective and my activities, but then I fired him. It was clear that I wanted to go down the path of self-indulgent self-doubt and he had no patience for it. I’d learned about NLP and I wanted him to use his NLP skills to magically transform me. We disagreed and that was the end of that. Instead of hiring a new business coach, I hired a personal coach and I decided to go it alone in business – I could work this out, there was plenty of free information around, plus I have a business degree – right? I was so wrong!

Lesson: Do not undervalue the benefit of having someone who keeps you in check and knows the path you are on. Others can often see what you can’t and as hard as it maybe, you have to stick with it if you want results. (See later point about Remaining Coachable).

10. Relying on Free Information
As you’ll know lots of marketing experts offer tip bits and advice. Problem was there are lots of ways of getting the same result, but mixing strategies doesn’t work. I became overwhelmed by all the advice, picking and choosing bits without realising the pre-requisite required for some strategies i.e. holding weekly free talks in Starbucks for my niche without a mailing list, packages or follow up system in place. Hours of stress and heartbreak for NO money! Plus, the free tips were never the full information making it impossible to do well.

Lesson: If you want to get real results, you have to invest in real knowledge. You can’t cut corners. Constant ideas and strategies simply create overwhelm. Find one mentor you respect and whose results you want to emulate and stick with them.

11. Remaining Coachable
Even on the occasions that I did engage with a coach, and I’ve had a few over the years, I left myself open for coaching outside of this arrangement. What this does is allow any Tom, Nick or Harry to provide you with advice based on the limited information that you have provided them. It also puts you in the position of continually questioning yourself and asking ‘what’s wrong with me/this?’

These days I don’t allow anyone to coach me outside of a defined relationship. This ensures that the strategy and solutions I’ve developed with my coach remain protected, acted up and able to produce the results and return on investment I signed up for. It also stops me doubting and changing my strategy before it’s had a chance to work.

Lesson: (see later points)

13. Classic Not-Working Networking
Boy did I have some great days out with my business friends attending seminars and ‘networking’. Yes I met a lot of people but how many of them were from my target audience? And how clear was my niche to allow me to ask the questions that were going to get me a result? I wasted a lot of time in the wrong place, talking about the wrong things to the wrong people. A clear niche would have dramatically increased my results. Firstly, I would have gone to events where the decisions makers for my niche were, not just an event for other networkers making the same mistake as me.

Lesson: Choose your activities carefully and make sure you focus on the return on investment at all times. You’re time costs.

14. NLP and Personal Development is NOT Business Development
You’ve probably come across the sales pitch from the stage ‘If you do this training you’ll radically transform your business and attract more clients? No, I’ll radically transform my client’s results, which if I haven’t got any clients, is not the same thing. While these courses are a valuable investment to make you a skilled practitioner, the truth is your client probably has no idea what NLP is so it is not going to be part of their buying decision.

Lesson: If you need coaching around an issue in your life, then go and get it. But don’t believe the hype that by doing this ‘change’ work you’ll instantly change your business results. You may do, your breakthrough could create a change in your approach, but don’t underestimate the value of hard core strategic ACTION!

15. Re-Evaluating my Goals
Attending these seminars had me continually re-evaluate my goals, which put me in a difficult position. Instead of just sticking with what I said I was going to do before, I was changing it too frequently and it left me feeling inadequate and that there was something ‘wrong’. Nowadays I find setting goals outside of once every 6 months immensely uncomfortable because generally they are in process, I am focused on action and achieving. This type of activity tends to have me re-setting goals and focusing on what is wrong. When I should be focused on what is right. To me this is grossly off track. It’s like looking at a tomato plant and analysing why it isn’t growing faster? or how can I make it grow better? or now telling it, you should now be an apple tree.

Lesson: Once you’re goals are set, focus 100% on achieving and don’t stop to question them. Engaging in this type of activity will have you stop your progress and start again, leading to poor or no results. Your only focus should be on ACTION.

16. Inviting Self Doubt
By attending the wrong seminars, not only was I exposing myself to amateur coaching with my ‘buddy’ I was also increasing my levels of self doubt by spending the seminar focused on what was wrong with me rather than what was right. This led to hours of self-doubting and started a spiralling pattern of destruction to my confidence. Further to that, with all the goals set I never came up with a strategic plan of how I was going to accomplish them. Thus the whole process was a complete waste of time.

Lesson: ACTION ACTION ACTION. Focusing on what is not working is not helpful. Simply getting on with it and focusing on what you’ve done well, will eradicate half the issues you think you need coaching about.

17. Establish a Brand of Self Doubt
If I thought I was networking at these seminars I can think again. With all the self-doubt and naval gazing I wasn’t doing a good job at presenting myself as a steady, reliable and inspiring coach to work with. This was very bad for my brand. Take a look at successful coaches and you don’t find them expressing self doubt to anyone but close friends behind closed doors – if at all.

If people are offering you advice it must be because you are inviting it by expressing self-doubt. If so, what is this doing for your brand? Will anyone be coached by or recommend someone who appears unsure in themselves?

Lesson: Be careful what you tell people, who you tell, how much you tell and ask yourself why you feel the need to tell.

18. Sharing my Goals Too Much
When I began my business I told everyone that I was quitting my job to become a life coach. This then made it hard to back track and get a job to support me. In truth, I could have got a job and kept my mouth shut about it, making it easy for pride and ego to not get in the way. Further, the time I spent telling people about my ideas and goals, and it was draining. This energy would have been better channelled into the ‘doing’ of my goal. When the energy was exhausted, the idea didn’t come into being and again was deadly to my brand.

Lesson: Keep your mouth shut!

If there is anything I truly want to pass on, it would be:

• Don’t underestimate the power of having a marketing mentor with experience of running a coaching business
• Choose a mentor you respect and whose results you want to emulate
• Invest your money in training that will transform your business and demand that you get a return on investment from it by focusing on creating strategic plans and following through with relentless ACTION

For me, Hannah’s, ‘Get More Clients Make More Money’ event, taking place in October 2010 in London and New York in January 2011, is the perfect antidote to all these mistakes as it not only teaches you about these things but equips you to create your success.

I really wish that I had invested with Hannah instead of just having her as my ‘coaching buddy’!

At the Get More Clients Make More Money event you will walk away with solid goals combined with a clear marketing strategy uniquely crafted for your niche and ready for implementation on Monday morning* 

If you’re in a position where youâ€^(TM)re not sure if your niche is the right one, if your marketing efforts will pay     off or you’re down to the last money then don’t waste any more time. This is JUST what you need. Compared     to all the other alternatives out there, the package Hannah is offering is underpriced.

For £649 you’ll receive:

• Full home study kit for Find Your Niche, Get More Clients plus the Bonuses (RRP £497)
• 90 days membership to Marketing Help For Coaches (RRP £150)
• Plus the live event! (RRP £697)

On this workshop, you will:

• Walk away with a clearly defined marketing strategy that you can start following straight away
• Receive guidance when developing your marketing strategy – From the minute you leave the workshop, you’ll be able to put into action what you’ve learned.
• Discover how to get people asking for your business card
• Learn the right things to say to get paid what you want
• Create a business model that has the potential to meet your income goals and exceed them
• Learn how to be a media go-to person
• Have opportunities to meet new friends
• Increase your lead generation 10-fold

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Get More Clients Make More Money

Book now and receive ‘Find Your Niche, Get More Clients’  (retail price £497) as part of your package! Click Here to find out more.

“At last – a practical, solid and proven system for getting more clients – even when you’re in midst of budget-cuts and recession”

At this interactive 3 day workshop:

• We’ll teach you client attraction strategies that DO get results
• Help you define your niche and how to communicate it so you get paying clients effortlessly.  Establish a business model that will be financially rewarding
• Show you how to build an email marketing list (without an ebook or other freebies that you need to create yourself)

PLUS: We’ll make sure that by the time you leave the workshop you’ll have your very own marketing strategy unique to your business, which you can get started with right away!*

Dates:

London – Friday 22nd – 24th October

New York – Friday 21st -23rd January

Click Here For More Information