NOTE: As of 2022 the Center for Executive Coaching is now accredited with the ICF as a Level 2 Coach Training Organization. The ICF has changed their language and replaced ACTP with Level 2. We were among the first group of coach training programs to receive this accreditation, after a rigorous review by the ICF.

In executive and leadership coaching, a fast nickel is worth more than a slow dime

I know a coach who is going broke chasing after a huge client. He's an elephant hunter, but he is letting his family down.

For three years he has been working to get into a Fortune 100 company at the top levels, with a huge coaching engagement. I give him credit for his patience and his optimism.

However, I completely disagree with his approach.

Let the huge firms with almost unlimited resources go after huge projects with the Fortune 500 companies. If you are a solo coach, go for a toehold in a client. Get a single coaching engagement with a single client, even for a few months. You can show your credibility, build relationships, and gain referrals from there.

Take a fast nickel over a slow dime. The slow dime might never come, and take food out of your family's mouth while you hope and pray. Meanwhile, you can get a bunch of fast nickels in the same amount of time.

I wish my colleague would realize this. While he continues to chase the great elephant, he is missing out on lots of other opportunities that — in sum — could make significant income for him. They could also set him up with the references and credible client list to actually land the huge client.

On a related note, you never want to get rich off the first engagement with a new client. The way to make it in this business is by building long-term relationships, and getting rich slowly but surely. Again, the fast nickel is worth more than the slow dime every time.

Aflac

Amazon

Ancestry

Army Corp of Engineers

Ascension Health

AT&T

Bank of America

Bechtel

Best Buy

Booz Allen

Bose

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Brown University

Capital One

Caterpillar

Charles Schwab & Co.

Children’s Hospital Colorado

Cisco

Citrix

Coca-Cola

Deloitte

Dropbox

Duke Energy

Galveston Independent School District

General Atomics

General Electric

Google

Harvard Business School

Home Depot

Inland Steel

International Red Cross

Johnson and Johnson

Kaiser-Permanente

KPMG

Laser Spine Institute

Lexis Nexis

Liberty Mututal

L’Oreal

Macy’s

Mckinsey Consulting

Merck

Microsoft

MIT

NASA

National Basketball Association (NBA)

Nike

Nissan

Nvidia

Partners Healthcare

Philips

Procter & Gamble

Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC)

Ralph Lauren

Regeneron

Rice University

Ross Stores

Russell Reynolds Associates

Schneider Electric

Shell Oil

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stryker

The Ohio State University

Tom’s Shoes

United Nations

University of Florida

Unum

UPS

US Air Force

US Army

US Army Medical Corps

US Marines

US Navy

USAID

Valassis

VMWare

Xerox

Zappos

Our featured articles