5 Must-Haves in your Corporate to Coach runway strategy. Best Of Series!

Hello and welcome to the Business of Executive Coaching Podcast. And welcome to our first episode of 2026. I'm Ellie Scarfe, a senior executive coach and now mentor to executive coaches who want to grow their businesses with more corporate clients. I've grown my coaching businesses solo and in partnership over the last almost 20 years. I've worked as an associate coach, I've even worked as an in house coach. I've seen it all and now I want to help you on your transition to building a thriving executive or leadership coaching business that can do a few things that might replace your corporate salary or give you the flexibility that you want to live life in accordance with your priorities and that makes a difference to your clients, your coaches and the world. As we celebrate the holiday season and take a short break, I wanted to share with you some of the most popular episodes this year. These episodes have something in common which is that they are very practical. They all solve real problems that you might be grappling with as a leadership coach working with organizational clients. Now, today is for my coaches who are ready, right? You might be in your corporate role, but you are ready to get on the Runway into starting your business. So it is called five must haves in your corporate to coach Runway strategy. And it is all about what you need to do to put yourself in the best position so that you can start your coaching business. Now, some of these are financial, some of them are practical, some of them are mindset, but all of them are things that you need to think about as you make the leap from employment to running your own gig. Now, I work quite a lot with people who are in this Runway. We have a number of members inside the accelerator who are still in employment or an either full time employment or part time employment who have joined so that they can be ready right when the time arises that they are ready to go and they aren't starting from zero when they have their last day. And I think that is just so smart. So if that is you reach out to me, you can either message me on LinkedIn or you can head to elliscarf.com corporate to go forward slash CCA which stands for Corporate to coach accelerator. And you can book a call with me. I'll also put the book call booking link in the show notes, make sure that you do that and we can talk about how the accelerator can support you this year to start your coaching business. Enjoy the episode. Hello and welcome back to the Business of Executive Coaching podcast. So I hope that you enjoyed the last month or the last four weeks where we've been running the sneak peek series where I've shared some modules directly from the corporate to coach accelerator curriculum. And I wanted to give you a bit of a sneak peek inside what we do. And they were pretty random. They were from all sorts of programs. But a really big thank you to everyone who sent me messages saying that you got a lot out of it. I really loved sharing these modules. And truly they are just a tiny snippet of what is in the curriculum for our Corporate to Coach accelerator members. So today's episode is for all of my listeners who are really excited about the prospect of coaching full time, but haven't quite taken the leap or haven't quite figured out how they're going to transition from their corporate role into their coaching coaching life. So I talk a lot about this idea of the Corporate to Coach Runway. So what do I mean by that? The Corporate to Coach Runway is the period of time between going from your full time corporate role to starting your coaching business, either full or part time. So that's the transition I'm talking about in the accelerator, which is my group coaching program, if you haven't heard me talk about it. We have people at all sorts of different stages. So we have some who are just embarking on the transition from corporate to coaching business. Some are in the early days, so like the first, you know, six months, some in the first few years, and others who have been coaching for, you know, up to 20 years, and we have everything in between. The common thread is that they're looking to grow their coaching businesses with corporate clients or they are making a shift in the offers that they sell and they, they are sort of going through a rebrand and they want to be really strategic about their marketing and sales activ. Those of you who are still employed in this episode, I'm really talking to you because there are some extra needs and extra things you need to clarify at this point. So today I want to share just five things that I think you should think about. Now, that is not all you should think about. There's obviously a lot more. And inside the accelerator, I have a whole workshop series on the Runway transition. But today I'm giving you some highlights and they relate to, you know, how can you decide if you're the sort of person who should start an executive coaching business, what you should consider from a financial perspective, what foundations you can establish before you leave your job, and how to decide, you know, who you want to work with and what your offers will be before we go any further, if this is you and you have decided to start your executive coaching business. Then I would like to offer you a free strategy call to help you identify three parts of your Runway strategy. So firstly, based on your experience in the corporate world, we will identify the three at least three key target markets for you. And to be clear, I'm not talking about identifying your niche. This is about identifying potentially profitable markets based on your expertise and where you will have credibility. Secondly, we will look at what offers you should focus on to start with. And again, we'll make sure you leave with at least three options. And finally, we'll identify three sources of transition income or three short term client opportunities. So you're going to leave with a three by three matrix, which I'll share a little bit more about in this episode that will help you really get into building your business plan. And of course, if you take up this offer to have a free one on one strategy call with me, you know, I would love you to join the accelerator if it's a good fit. But this offer applies with no obligation to join up. So if you would like to have a free one on one Runway strategy call with me, you can book in to one of the quite limited number of time slots that are available. And I put in a link in the show notes for you and it really is suited for. So you should book one of these calls. If you are a trained executive coach who wants to work with corporate clients, you're in an organizational role and you're considering transitioning to running your own business within the next, you know, one to six months. And you are open to working with a coach to support you through that journey. So you're, you know, you see the value in that because that's what we'll be doing in this session. So if you're not sure whether this call, this sort of a call is for you, but you're sort of interested, feel free to drop me a message on LinkedIn. I'm scarf LinkedIn forward slash elliscarf. And we can figure that out together. Okay? With no further delay, here are five things that you should consider or questions you should answer as you think about your personal corporate to coach Runway. The first question I want you to ask yourself is, are you willing to be uncomfortable? So I don't think that you have to be a natural at business, right, to become an executive coach and to set up an executive coaching business. I don't think that we are either good at business or bad at business. I think we all, all have the capacity to become good at business with the right practice and the right strategy. But you do have to be willing to get uncomfortable. And this is going to come up more than you think. So, for example, it comes up in the visibility that is, that is involved in posting on social media. It'll come up with outreach, so sending messages or reaching out to people you know, who you would like to talk to about what you offer. It'll come up with sales conversations. When you have to talk about your pricing, it'll come up in setting pricing. It'll come up when you have to put your. Your photo on your website. So discomfort is going to come up in more ways than you might imagine. And you don't know what is going to trigger that discomfort, but for sure, we know it's coming. And so to start a business, you need to go into it with a mindset that you are willing to be uncomfortable or willing to learn to be okay with discomfort. So that's number one. Number two is that you also need to evolve your relationship with rejection. Right. So much. And I guess these first two are really about making the decision to transition into your own business. But number two is that you need to evolve your relationship with rejection. Much success in business comes from just getting told no enough times that you figure out how to get a yes and you figure out how to make the numbers start to stack up in your favor. And I've talked a bit about how sales is in marketing is a numbers game. And I think that, you know, you can't have a numbers game in isolation from an experience of rejection. And in fact, more rejection than acceptance, you know, potentially. So it might sound harsh, but I find it really liberating to think of it this way. So rather than viewing sales as something that I'm either good at or not good at, I think of it as a series of problems that I need to solve. So, you know, do enough people know what I'm doing? Am I reaching out to enough people who believe in my credibility? How can I conduct a sales call to make sure that people want to work with me so that it converts to clients? Those things require rejection tolerance, persistence, and troubleshooting. And believe me, I am a very sensitive person. If you've ever met me, you'll know that I'm quite sensitive. And historically, I've even been quite fragile when it comes to criticism and rejection. So what I want to say is that if I can reframe this experience of being told no and being rejected into something that I see as a necessary part of, of business, Growth, and I even would say embrace it, then you can, too, because every no gets you closer to a yes. The third thing that I think you need to do is that you need to define your financial Runway. And, you know, I'm assuming here that you do need your business to generate some income in the first one to two years. Now, if you don't need your business to generate income, then this bit is easy. You can skip over this bit. And for some people, that's the case. So you may have retired and, you know, you may have a secure financial buffer or you may have a partner who works. So you know, you're doing this for stimulation because you want to make an impact, which is all great. But for most people, our business does need to be an income generator. And so when you are defining the financial Runway, which is really, you know, how are you going to have your finances in a position where you can take the time that it needs to grow your business? Some of the things you need to include when you're doing this are really being clear on your minimum monthly requirements. I think this is a really interesting number, but this is the number that, you know, you ultimately must return, or if you don't for X amount of time, depending on your buffer, you will need to go back into employment. Right? So what is the minimum number? And so you need to be really ruthless when calculating minimum. So that doesn't include, you know, the upgraded subscriptions to Canva or, you know, LinkedIn, sales navigator or outsourcing anything. It's like, really, what do you need to bring in the door to function? So that is one of the things you need to figure out. You also need to figure out what buffer you're comfortable with. And that is a financial buffer for the first months where there may be not very much income, right? And I would say have more buffer than you think you need, but it is, the buffer should be X number of months of that minimum financial requirement just so that you have the Runway or the, the, the freedom, the space to do the things you need to do to build the foundations your business before you start sort of feeling sort of graspy about and desperate about needing new clients so that you can come at it with the right mindset. And so for some people, it's, you know, three months. For some people it's six months. For some people it's a year. But think about what it is for you. And it needs to be the number that feels like you can breathe, but also that feels like you've got a bit of a fire lit under you, right, that you have to do something. So you also should include when it comes to your financial Runway, thinking about what transitional income sources you might have. And a transitional income source might be something that you know well. It is something that allows you to lean into the business while maintaining some degree of security. So that might include working part time, consulting back into the organization you're leaving, for example, things that are sort of guaranteed things that you could do that will bring money in fairly, predictably, fairly consistent consistently, and that you wouldn't mind doing if needed. Now it may be that you choose not to do these things, but it's good to know that you can if you need to. And then also as part of your financial run mate, you need to actually think about the upside. So what are your revenue goals for year one, for year two, you know, how are you going to make that revenue? How do you break it down? So one of the activities I love to do with acceleration greater members is actually breaking down the revenue based on your offers and your pricing. So how many do you need to sell and when do you need to sell them in order to hit your revenue goals? Because often we might just pick a round number and say, oh, I want to make, you know, and I don't think this is realistic, but let's say a million dollars in the first year. But I'm pricing my coaching at $3,000 for a six month package. Well, if you want to make a million dollars, your pricing is going to need to increase significantly at that price. So to, to make it sustainable. So have a think about how will you build up to your goal with the offers and the pricing that you're considering. Now inside the accelerator we talk a lot about what are your offers, what is your pricing, what is the appropriate pricing for the market you're in. So if you need some help with that, then, then definitely speak to me. And then I think as part of your Runway you also need to have a strategy to manage variable income because it is not the case that you are going to consistently just have, you know, a small amount that grows and grows and is, is received consistently. No, you are going to have feast and famine, highs and lows. It's like a roller coaster. And there are strategies in order to manage that. So you know, you might decide to use the profit first methodology, which means that every dollar that comes in you sort of all X percentage to your various buckets, which can be a good way to think about it. Or you might decide to pay yourself a minimum salary that you and you build up a, you know, like a commission pool that you pay yourself that consistent amount out of and that that equalizes the buffers. The downside being you pay yourself quite a small amount until the buffer grows and grows and grows until you see some consistency. And then I think you also, as part of your financial Runway, you need to have a really good tracker, right, that allows you to actually have some data over what is coming into, in the door, what is going out the door, what is the rev, how are you tracking it's revenue, what is your sales pipeline. So all of those things are part of what we do inside the accelerator as well. My fourth thing that I like people who are in the transition phase to remember or who are planning their Runway to remember is that you must be realistic. Now this is hard for me to say because I am a person who does not like to be realistic. I like to be optimistic. And so I want to see a balance of those two things in, in your plan. But the reality part of it is that, you know, I think it is helpful to normalize that the growth of a coaching business takes one to two years before you see consistent, predictable client flow and therefore consistent, predictable client income. So the whole point of the corporate to coach accelerator is to do this quicker, right? So the accelerator helps you get to that place of sustainability quickly. We aim to do it in one year. But what I worry about is potential clients who've been talking or reading content from these guru style business coaches promising that with, you know, just some really simple actions or very little action, sometimes you can have $10,000 months immediately. And the truth is you can get to that. And you know, I don't want to say that these things, these things don't work, but I know that there are a lot of shady, shady folks out there and there is no matter what you do, there is going to be a ramp up period. Unless you're a robot, right? And there is a lot of work that needs to happen to get to that point. It's not easy. So I don't want people starting their business expecting luck to help, expecting miracles. I want you to know that you absolutely can do it and you will build to it and you have to do it with the right strategy and you have to do it with consistent action. And it's not going to happen by accident or necessarily easily. So just, just the reality that if it's taking you longer than you know someone said it should, then the problem is not you. The problem is likely the marketing of these people. So I want to you to give yourself, you permission or you know, sort of. I just want to normalize that it takes time to grow a business. And look, I've fallen into this trap myself of, of starting businesses and I've started a number of business. I've been running coaching businesses for a long time and you know, when I've, when I've built businesses sort of that sit alongside my coaching businesses, but haven't been coaching businesses directly, I've, I've fallen into this trap of thinking that somehow I could build them quicker or that it would be, you know, some miraculous turnaround. And the truth is the, the two year, the one to two year guidance seems to apply pretty consistently for most businesses. So don't judge yourself if you're not, you know, making six figures a month within the first few months. It is normal for it to take time to grow. And what I would want to see at the end of, you know, your, your first year, for example, is, you know, not necessarily a particular revenue because you will have different goals and circumstances and pricing. But I want to see consistency of your marketing activities, consistent lead flow and consistent sales activity leading to more predictable client acquisition. And that is what the, the accelerator is all about. My fifth tip is to be very intentional about your support network as you go through this transition. So in my opinion, you need three different types. Support firstly and probably most importantly, you need personal support. So this is your cheerleaders firstly and your cheerleaders if that's your nearest and dearest, right. Friends and family, sometimes you need to tell them that that is their job because often people in our personal network, they think, okay, well how can I best support, you know, my, my friend, my, my wife, my husband, my, my niece, my nephew as they start their business. And they think that the best way to do that is by playing devil's advocate or by being the voice of reason. And if you're anything like me, when that comes, when what you're wanting is that, you know, unconditional positive support, it can be really hard and it can be very destabilizing to get that sort of negativity to come through. Now I think you need to be getting, you know, the feedback and the criticism, constructive criticism from somewhere, but it should come from your business mentors and not from your friends and family unless they are somehow experts in those areas. So make sure you get your cheerleaders and make sure you tell them what their job is. And you might also, from a personal perspective, you might need practical support like someone who can take tasks off your plate on the home front. And this might be, you know, just someone in. In your. In your world, or it might be paid support, and that's okay, too. The second type of support I think you need is a peer network. And by that I really mean your coaching, your network of coaches, right? So these are other executive coaches who are in the same boat as you coaches who might even be slightly ahead of you in their business journey. And they're really people who can be your business buddies. So they might be people who are your business buddies. They also people who like to geek out with you on coaching theory. You know, they want to talk about developmental approaches and the latest books they've been reading and where they're getting business advice from, where their clients are coming from, what they're pricing, things, things. You need to have that group of people, that community. And you know, that community can come from a lot of places. It can come from your coaching training networks, or it could come from, you know, the community insider program, like the accelerator, or it could come from, you know, your geographic network, your icf. And then finally, I think you need the support of mentors and experts in the coaching and the business field. So if I think about it from a coaching perspective, I think you need supervision either to be, you know, maybe being part of a supervision group to start. And, you know, there are also the people who have walked this path ahead of you and who can give you both information and guidance so you are not starting from scratch or learning from all your own mistakes, but so that you have a leg up and you get to accelerate the learning curve by leaning on, you know, the expertise of others. And that's really what I like to do, you know, really, it's what drives me inside the accelerator is to be that person who can accelerate your learning curve, can give you structure, can give you support to do that, and can answer all your questions from the position of someone who has done this and has been doing it successfully for almost 20 years. I have a bonus tip, right? I know I said five, but I have six, and that is to prepare a three by three matrix. So imagine an A4 page with nine boxes. And if you are in this position of wanting to build your Runway, I would love you to do this now. But imagine an A4 page. You've got nine boxes in the first row. In the first three boxes, I want you to identify three sectors, industries or types of business where you have a proportionately greater credibility as a coach based on your professional expertise in the Second row, I want you to identify three services or offers that you could sell to those types of businesses that would be relatively easy for you to develop. So for example, you would definitely have a one on one coaching offer, but you might also have a training offer, right? That is something that you either delivered in your professional career or, you know, were an expert on. Might be something like coaching skills for retail professionals, or it might be wellbeing for senior legal professionals, for example. Or you might. So then another offer could be that you might facilitate strategy days or you might do team development. You might be a consultant into a particular sector. You might be a fractional chief HR officer or a fractional CMO or cfo. But identify three offers just to start with. Just start with three that would be relatively easy for you to deliver and would be in demand by your potential clients. And then finally, in the bottom row, I want you to identify three sources of quick income. And so that might be transitional income. So, you know, consulting back to your organization, an individual who's already told you they want to pay you for this for your services or a short term contract or something you could do on a contract basis. Really easily, easily. So just identify three ways you could get some income sources if you needed or as part of your transition. So your three by three matrix now, once you've done that process, is now a very strong foundation from which we could go through the process of building a startup business strategy. Now of course, like when you actually do it and in the accelerator when we do it, we go into much more detail on all of those things, but hopefully that really starts to bring it to life. And what I want you to do with that matrix is just see the possibility and think creatively about you as a coach and where, where and what you might do in your business. As I mentioned, if this is relevant to you, if this episode is speaking to you, please book in a one on one call with me, a Runway strategy call and we will populate your three by three matrix together. So I will help you. I'll make suggestions, I'll ask questions, and you'll go away sort of just with a little more clarity over what that coaching business might look like. So to book in your free Runway strategy call, head over to the Show Notes where I have got a link that you can sign up for one of the very limited number of spots and I would love to meet with any of you who are in that position. So have a great week and I will speak to you next Monday. 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 Pog 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@elliscarf.com have a brilliant week and I look forward to talking to you again soon, soon.