Keep these 3 things front and centre when building your 2026 plan

Hello and welcome to the Business of Executive Coaching podcast. I'm your host, Ellie Scarfe, a senior executive coach and mentor and coach to executive coaches who want to grow their businesses with more corporate clients. So if that is, you're in the right place. So today I wanted to talk as part of my 2026 planning series. So rather than diving into the precise pillars of the planning process, which you can go back and check out an episode on that I have from December of 2024, which is a great episode, very popular today, what I want to do is talk a little bit more about how your goals for your business are part of a much bigger picture. And so I'm riffing on it. I'm just going to talk to why it's so important that this is part of your strategy process. And when I say we need to make sure that our business goals support all of our other goals, what I really mean is that if you have come to coaching business as a senior professional, you decided to start your coaching business, I'm willing to bet that you have done it for one of a few reasons or that there are certain priorities that weren't being met in your corporate career. Now, I'm willing to assume that, yes, you want this business to be profitable, right? That you want it to be successful, you want it to pay the bills, you want it to be, not just pay the bills, but to be a great source of abundance and to help you grow wealth for your family, right? To support your family. So financial is one piece of the puzzle. But I'm also willing to bet that when you started your business, you also did it because you feel a sense of meaning or a sense of purpose about the work of coaching. And that usually means that you enjoy helping, right? So you get a sense that when you are one on one in coaching, even if that client is an organizational client, that you get make a difference, right? You get to make a difference for that person. And beyond that, that there is a bigger picture ripple effect of positivity that that comes from this work in that people we are coaching who are having a better experience are often better leaders, right? They show up in their home lives in a more integrated and emotionally, emotionally regulated way, right? That they there is a ripple effect then if people in organizations are having a better experience, all of their families are having a better experience, their communities are having a better experience. And I think that's the way we change the world. And I know that's very idealistic, but I do, I think the work we do as coaches really is a way that we can change the world for the better. And so if you are a coach, I am willing to bet that there is a lot of meaning in this work that you do. And so when we think about planning and we think about setting our goals, we need to bear that in mind, right? We can't let go of that bigger picture purpose. And the third thing that is likely also very important to you is that you may have started your business because your corporate role just didn't work for the season of life that you're in or for the life that you want to lead. And really what I'm talking about, there is flexibility for you to be able to be able to prioritize other things in your life. So things like your family, your hobbies, your maybe even rest, right? Rest is so important. Your health. So business really needs to do two things. So three things. Our businesses need to provide us with financial resources. They need to give us a sense of meaning and purpose and impact. And it needs to support our life and the priorities we have in our life. So I'm assuming that's you. And so if we know we have those three priorities, the question is then how do we make sure that we keep that front and center in our planning process? Because I can tell you what happens, and I've been in this position myself, is that we're like, yes, I've got this big picture, I've got this impact goal. I want to make a difference. I want to work flexibly, I want to work part time. I want to prioritize my health and my family. And so we say that, and that all sits somewhere. And then we go in and we set our business goals. And our business goals are, what is my revenue plan? Right? What is my revenue target? What is my plan to reach that? What is my marketing strategy? What am I going to do around networking? All of those things, right? So we'd go through the real business pieces of it, but at no point do we actually bake in those life and impact priorities. So we need to make sure that we have those front and center when we are building our plan. And so what does that look like? As I'm here, I'm just flicking through the planning session that I ran with the members of my program, the Corporate to Coach accelerator this year. And I want to talk about a few ways that we embedded these things. So one of them is that we talk about the big picture on a slightly different time horizon. And so that time horizon is, I like us to think, rather than 10 years or one year, I want us to think somewhere in the middle, usually about three year point. And what I ask my people to think about, my members to think about is in three years, what is your business going to look like in terms of revenue? Yes. What is the income you're bringing in? How are you prioritizing life? And what are the flexibility requirements or boundaries you have in place very clearly so that your business serves you. And then finally, in three years, what does it feel like to be in your business on the average day? And I was so interested in this because my sense is that a lot of people start their businesses because they feel a little bit burned out by corporate life. That's something I see as a bit of a pattern, but in fact. So I was thinking they're going to say, I want to be feeling peaceful, I want to be feeling calm, I want to feel predictable. But when we went through this workshop, that is absolutely not what came up. And what came up is exactly how I also feel, which is that they want to feel like they are on their growth edge. Right. Like they are making a difference, like they are challenging themselves and that they are always pushing for something that feels exciting. And if I tap into that feeling inside myself and that felt sense of it, it's really exhilarating, right? It's, it's the. Yes, we have all of. There is this grounded and regulated sense that comes along with it. But it is, it's exciting, right? It's inspiring. It's the sort of thing that the next opportunity could be just around the corner. The next big challenge is coming to you. It's on your plate. You've got to figure it out. And that feeling, and that feeling like you're making a differ difference is really empowerful to keep in mind. If we say that's what I want to achieve, having place feel in three years, then we worked back and say, okay, what does that look like in 2026? What is the piece of the puzzle that takes me one step closer to those revenue targets? Life, boundaries and feelings. And then we break down, we go into our 2026 objectives and that is, what is the impact you want to have? What do you want to learn and develop personally? How is your business going to support your life and what is your revenue goal? And so those four questions really incorporate those three priorities of profitability and financial success impact and life prioritizing life. So another way that we do this is that I make, I make that sounds very forced. I invite my clients to really think about their boundaries in 2026. And by boundaries, I'm asking them a few questions. One is, when are you going to take a break? What are you going to say no to? Personally and professionally? And I get them to map out what an ideal week looks like for them. From a personal how do we bake our priorities into our week? And then after the session, I ask them to put all of this stuff in their diary. And that means calendaring your holidays. What do you want to take three days once in a year for a business retreat for yourself to really think about your business? Do you want to go to a conference to. To feed your own inspiration? What training do you want to do? Probably not so much this. I'm really asking them about when do they gonna put work to the side. But for a lot of us as coaches, we are inspired by the learning and the growth, so it's hard to draw that line. But I love the no question. What are you gonna say no to? And personally and professionally? So I would encourage you absolutely to ask yourself those questions and to map out your ideal week. What does that look like? Do you pick up the kids three days a week? Do you go to the gym every morning at 9:00 clock and you don't take clients until 10:30? Do you want to take Fridays off, whatever that is, because you have something to do, not just to say, I just don't want to work, but really to say, what am I going to do instead? So you can be really intentional about having those life priorities front and center. So look, those are just a few of the processes that we put in place. And I would just encourage you to make sure that when you are building out your 2026 strategy and your plan, that you are very intentionally answering those questions about how is impact baked into your strategy? How is prioritizing your life goals baked into your strategy? And of course, how are you planning to hit your revenue targets? The final thing I would say is that there are some questions that you need to ask yourself that are really mindset and identity questions that I think will also join the dots between your strategy and these priorities. And those questions might include questions such as, how are you currently getting in your own way? And I see this being a really big one for coaches to be honest and tends to be things like the negative mindset around sales and selling, fears about visibility, a tendency towards perfectionism and overthinking. But we need to think, how are you getting in your own way? Who do you need to be like? What is that identity? You need to embody in order to create this multifaceted life prioritizing business that you are dreaming of. You also need to ask yourself, what are you going to let go of? And I don't just mean in terms of what you say no to, but what do you need to let go of in terms of those. Those beliefs you have about yourself or those assumptions about what you are and are not capable of. And then of course, what mindsets are going to support you to achieve your goals into 2026? And honestly, if there's just one question that you sit with or one mindset that you embrace as you head into planning for 2026, I just want you to ask yourself, why not me? Because a lot of the times the question I'm seeing people ask themselves a lot is why would they hire me? Why would I be? Why would they give me the mandate to do this work with their people? I've just come out of my organization or I don't have enough experience, or I don't have this or I don't have that. But I want you to ask yourself, actually, why not you? If you look at other people who are doing this, they are people potentially with even less credibility. And I can guarantee that your experience is so valuable to your ideal client. And when that is coupled with your coaching or facilitation or consulting skill set, why not you? And so I would just leave you with that question. So for the rest of 2025 and the first weeks of 2026, I'm going to be bringing back a few of our most popular episodes from this year for you to listen into. So don't miss those. You may not have listened to them, but these are the ones that I know you'll get a huge amount. So I really wish you all the best for the holiday season. If you are in the mode of thinking, how am I going to really get down to business in 2026? How am I going to grow my business? How am I going to make sure life and impact are really front and center? Then reach out to me. You can DM me on LinkedIn, you can send me an email and let's have a chat about whether the accelerator is a good fit and a good place for you to come and join us to support your business. I have got maybe two or three spots left if you'd like to join this year before prices go up in the new year. So I would reach out to me and I would love to have you join us and we can have a quick call if you get in before, let's say the 18th of December. I've got some slots available until then, and then I'll be taking two weeks off and really getting excited to come back full of energy for 2026. Have a great week.