This past week I had the chance to tour a remarkable cavern in Texas. The cavern had room after room of huge and amazing formations.
What was most remarkable was that the original explorers of the cave didn't get to walk on the concrete paths and man-made steps that I did.
They had to crawl through hundreds of feet of tiny, pitch-black, muddy tunnels — some no more than 11 inches wide, before they got to see these incredible rooms. For all they knew, they were going to hit a dead end.
If it were me, I would have turned back after the first narrow hole.
Fortunately, I have shown more courage and sense of exploration in my coaching practice.
If we apply this metaphor of cave exploration to your coaching practice, here are two questions for you:
1. When do you give up and quit, when it comes to attracting clients and building your practice?
2. When do you give up and quit, when it comes to exploring issues with your clients and encouraging them to make amazing discoveries?
When it comes to attracting clients and building a successful practice, many coaches give up way too soon — even before they get that first client. Others give up before even hitting the six-figure mark, let alone building a firm that can make them wealthy.
That's too bad, because in my opinion, finding coaching clients is much easier than crawling through a muddy, pitch-black, narrow passage under the ground. People have already marked the path. You only need to follow a guide who has "been there and done that" and you will reach the goal.
When it comes to exploring issues with clients, many coaches are too superficial and fuzzy, and don't add much value. This is an even bigger tragedy, because superficial coaches hurt the reputation of the entire industry.
Here, you need robust, practical tools and frameworks that lead your clients to results and demonstrate your value. The tools are there, if you are willing to take advantage of them.
I invite you to explore the Center for Executive Coaching. I have done the hard work by crawling through the dark and narrow holes to get to the good stuff.
You get expert guidance, practical methods and materials, and marketing support that can't be beat — along with a path to an ICF designation via our Level 2 (formerly called ACTP) accreditation.
Visit today: http://centerforexecutivecoaching.com
You can learn from the comfort of your own home or office, and/or come to our seminars.
Contact me anytime for more information, after you have reviewed the website. My personal cell is:
941-539-9623.
Happy caving!
