1: Loving coaching isn't enough!

Welcome to the business of executive coaching. I'm Ellie Scarfe, an ex lawyer turned executive coach. Over the last 17 years, I've coached in house, I've been an associate coach and I've run executive coaching businesses with teams of coaches around the world. My clients have ranged from global brand names to boutiques, startups and organizations doing good in the world. I now run the Impact Coach Collective, a community of executive coaches who want to level up their business skills and take action in a community of like minded peers. I'm a traveller, a reader, a mum, wife and dog parent and I know firsthand that our stories have a huge impact on our businesses. The executive coaching business is tough and I've learnt all the lessons through plenty of mistakes and also with some great mentors. This podcast is all about growing a thriving executive coaching business. You can build a coaching business that is profitable, sustainable and that supports your personal goals, whatever they are. I'll be sharing tips and ideas translated for your context, as well as stories from the field with brilliant coaches and mentors. If you want to level up your executive coaching business skills, then this is the place for you. Hi everyone and welcome to episode one of the Business of Executive Coaching. So today I have a short episode for you about a harsh truth that I wish every coach knew during their coach training and that is that loving coaching isn't enough. So when I speak to executive and leadership coaches, I generally ask them what made them decide to be a coach. I want to know their story. And there are some themes that emerge. So one of the themes is that coaches were leaders of teams in organizations and they really loved that aspect, that aspect of their role. So they love the coaching, they love the leadership. They may not have loved the technical aspects of their role as much, they may not have loved the organizational politics of their of their role. Another theme is that they may have done some coach training and really loved it and they wanted to explore it more. Another theme is that they sort of heard from people who knew them well and knew their strengths and talents and who told them that they should consider coaching because they think that they would be really good at it. And then the final theme that I've noticed is that their coaches may have been working through a number of roles that were connected to people but couldn't quite find the right fit. So they were looking for the right role. And sometimes it's all of these things, and it probably was for me. But almost all coaches want to help people, they want to make a difference and they love the hands on doing of the work of coaching. So they get a lot of enjoyment by being face to face, one on one with their clients. They also generally want to have a positive impact on their coaches and beyond. So they want to impact organizations, they want to have a positive impact on the world generally. There is this sense of helping and impact and growth and that's a really important part of who we are as a coach. Although all of you who are coaches will know that over leveraging that helping side can actually be to our detriment in coaching because it can lead to us wanting to hold and, and solve and take problems away from our coaches, which we know is not necessarily the goal. But that's not my point. Coaches love to help, want to be hands on, want to make a positive impact. So this was totally me. Like all of these things I really relate to. And you know, I got into coaching because I knew someone, a wonderful mentor who thought that I would really love coaching. And she was totally right. So I'd been training as a psychotherapist alongside my day job and I knew that I wanted to make a difference to individuals. I wanted to help people. And that was sort of the, the only, you know, I hadn't really clarified it any further at that point. And to be honest, I still have that part of me, that desire to help and to want to make a difference. But when I found coaching, I found a much better fit for me than psychotherapy. I really enjoyed the solution oriented nature. I really enjoyed playing in the complexity of organizations. So, you know, corporate, executive and leadership coaching, that's my jam. And working within the evidence base and the academic approach, approach to coaching really appealed to me. And as my career unfolded as a coach, you know, interestingly, I did go back to some of the psychodynamic approaches that I'd learned in my psychotherapy training. But I would say overall, I'm a much better coach than I would have been therapist. Anyway, my point is that we're coaches, we love helping, we love coaching, we want to make a difference, we want to do good in the world and you know, gosh darn it, we have so much to give. But this is the point where if I had a podcast editor, I would edit in the sound of a record scratching because there's some really crappy news. And that news is that a drive to help and make a difference and a love of the coaching work we do is basically useless if we don't know how to sell our services and if we can't build the engine of a business to keep us afloat. Does that sound harsh? It might be, but I think it's true and I think it's important. And I think if we knew that in the earliest days of our coaching, that life and business will be better all around. So when I say we can't just focus on coaching and we need to focus on our business as well, I'm not just talking about the commercial aspects. And sure, selling your services means revenue, which means you get paid so you can pay your bills. And that is the basics, very important basics. But when I talk about the need to prioritize our business, I also mean things like do you have systems in place so that you aren't reinventing the wheel every time you have to send an invoice or track a client engagement? Do you have your finances under control? Can you read your profit and loss statement? Do you understand your cash flow? Are you appropriately insured? Do you get help when you need it from an EA or a bookkeeper or you know, with childcare? Do you have a plan for marketing? Do you have a plan for selling? Do you have a clear boundary of what work you will and won't say yes or no to? So there is a point for executive coaches when you face a decision and you need to decide that you are willing to invest your time, energy and sometimes money into the business vehicle that will allow you to do this work that you love and that will make a difference in the world if you do it sustainably. So Ben Hardy, he's the author of Be youe Future Self now and the co author of many other books including recently 10x is easier than 2x and on a sidebar. I really need to talk about these books with someone because the concepts are really compelling, but there are some slightly problematic parts of them. So if anyone's read these books, please send me a message so we can talk about it. But anyway, Ben Hardy talks about how entrepreneurs and business owners often have this point of no return, that when we actually commit to building this thing, there's a point where we are all in that we are committed to our business, baby. Now this doesn't necessarily mean you don't have financial strategies like part time work or consulting or something else, but it's the point at which we decide this is it for us. And it's not in theory, but in practice. We are doing it and we're going to make it work and we're in. And that includes saying I'm committed not just to the fun parts and the bits that I enjoy, like the actual coaching. But I'm committed to embracing the business and I'm committed to embracing the platform that will allow me to do this work. That is my meaning and does provide that sense of purpose to me. So loving coaching is not enough. A passion for coaching needs to be balanced with business best practices, right? Because we want you in this for the long run. The stats from the ICF about coaches who start a business and then give it up within only a couple of years are astonishing. A very significant proportion of coaches who think they're going to run a coaching practice end up not being able to sustain it. And my hypothesis is that they are not investing in the business platform that will allow them to do the work. So it's one of my passions to make sure that coaches of all levels of experience are invested in their business and are learning about business and us finding the joy in business not only to grow it, but also to live a life that they want to live right where their business is serving their needs and where it is a joyful part of their life and is is serving it accordingly. So if you want to learn a little bit more about my tools and the mentoring I do around coaching businesses as part of the launch of my community, the Impact Coach Collective, I'm running a free webinar on Thursday 22nd February and it's called how to Build a Corporate Coaching Offer that Sells. In this webinar I'm going to share how a corporate coaching offer might differ from an individual coaching offer, what inclusions you should consider, and the documents and collateral that you need to present it in a compelling and professional way. If you'd like to join me live and it will also be recorded of course you can register@elliscarf.com offers that cell now just in case you don't know how to spell my name, that is E L L I E S C A R f dot com offers that sell. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Business of Executive Coaching. If you found it helpful, please share it with a colleague or friend on LinkedIn. And don't forget to tag me so I can say thanks. I would be tremendously grateful also if you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts. More reviews means more people can find us. This episode was brought to you by the Impact Coach Collective, where executive coaches grow their businesses in a community of peers with business education, mentoring, deal clinics and more. If you'd like to contact me or work with me further, all my free resources, courses and more info on the Impact Coach Collective can be found@elliscarfe.com have a brilliant week and I look forward to talking to you again soon.