Helping Hands For Coaches

hi everyone,

I made a quick video for you here that describes the 2 core challenges that every single entrepreneur has to face.. and what kind of thought process and strategy you need to overcome these challenges.  It’s an important subject to say the least.  Check it out here and leave a comment if you’d like to share your own experience.

all the best,

Kevin

Recently, I read that George Lucas negotiated with Steven Spielberg and gave him 2.5 points from the revenue of Star Wars in exchange for 2.5 points of revenue from Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. (Click here to find out more of the story.)

Now you might be wondering why George Lucas would give away 2.5 points of revenue to one of the most successful films of all time, in exchange for a film that did pretty darn well but had no where near the success of Star Wars.

(Granted, you might also be wondering what this geeky Star Wars Trivia has to do with life coaching too!)

Here’s the deal.

The reason George Lucas did this deal was because he was scared.

That’s right!

This little agreement happened before Star Wars hit theaters.  The now-king-of-sci-fi was afraid that his little space-based movie was going to flop and he was grasping at straws to stay alive financially.  So, while visiting the set of Spielberg’s move set, he offered to trade points thinking that if Star Wars bombed, he’d at least have the revenue from Close Encounters to keep him alive.

But we all know the rest of the story… right?

Star Wars launched and George Lucas’ life (let alone the film industry) has never been the same.

Again… what does this have to do with anything?

Well, if you’re on the brink of starting something… like launching a life coaching practice… or ANY new endeavor.  There is a very good chance that you’re a little bit like our young George Lucas.

There’s probably a little part of you that is very excited.  But… there’s a very good chance that a BIG part of you that is very scared.

You may be grasping at straws.  You may be looking for the exit.  You may be looking to make a deal and go for something “safe.”

That’s understandable. In fact, that’s normal.

But here’s the deal.

People who change the world… and people who change their world… have to push through the fear and do it anyway.

Will you make some mistakes?  Sure.  (I’m guessing that George Lucas doesn’t ever want to do the actual math on what Steven Spielberg has made from that little deal on Star Wars!)

But… like George… you’ll live and you’ll learn from those mistakes.

More importantly… if you’re wanting to go after that big dream… if you’re wanting to change your world… and if you’re hoping to change other people’s worlds in the process…

You have to push through that fear… and do it!

So do it.  Whatever that thing is for you… do it.

And may the force be with you as you do!  (Sorry, I just had to do that!)

Keep dreaming big and helping others to do the same,

Mitch Matthews

So… you are a life coach or you are thinking about becoming a life coach.Yup… you need to have a START UP MINDSET!
Think start up!  Think biz success!
Think…

• I’m going to work hard AND I’m going to work smart.

• I’m going to have a positive impact on the people I coach AND I’m going to benefit from it financially.

• I’m going to grow in my business confidence AND I’m going to continue to learn new business concepts… daily!

Are you in? (more…)

Okay, so you know we are all about helping you to become a incredibly effective life coach and have a wildly successful life coach practice.

Pure and simple.
So sometimes we hit you with life coaching concepts.  Other times we offer up marketing and branding strategies that can help you grow a successful and sustainable life coaching practice.  And other days… we just try to sprinkle in gems that will help you to be a well rounded coach.
Today, I have a new recommended book.
Now, I’ve already offered up my 5 MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS for LIFE COACHES TO READ. You can click here to check those out. (more…)

We’re all about helping life coaches to apply solid branding and marketing strategies to their life coaching practices.

Plus… since many of you have big dreams of growing a successful life coaching practice or you dream of taking your life coaching practice to the next level… we always want to provide ideas and inspiration to help you achieve that too!

So today… we combine branding and big dreaming in a podcast with John Morgan!

John Morgan is known as the Chuck Norris of Branding. (more…)

Did you know that as a life coach, you can help your clients to release endorphins which will help them to feel happier… simply by helping them to look forward to something?

LOOK FORWARD TO SOMETHING
LOOKING FORWARD QUESTIONS:

• Describe something you would love to accomplish in your professional life.

• Describe a few places you would like to visit in the world.

• Tell me about a few things you would like to experience with your family.

• Describe something (more…)

Recently, I was coaching a relatively new life coach.

He was excited about working with his clients and growing his life coaching practice, but he was also buzzing about the idea of creating products.  In fact, during our coaching call he asked…

“What do you think?  Should I stay focused on growing my client base or should I start to devote some time to developing products?”
“Why not let your clients pay you as you develop your content?”
“I like the sounds of that.  How would that work?”

• common obstacles

• questions that keep coming up

• underlying needs and wants

“If you want to be really intentional… set up a time in 6 months for a “New Product Retreat.”  You could plan for a day or two get-away (or protected time in your office) to think through your list and your potential products.  Then, (more…)

Image by mararie via Flickr

I’m always on the lookout for good quotes… especially quotes that will help life coaches.

Recently, I came across a quote that I liked.  It was from a wildly successful and super productive tech guy named Shane Mac.

He said…

“Elimination is the key to focus.”

I like that.  How about you?

As Life Coaches… one of our roles is to help our clients to get more focused.

And helping them to cut away things they don’t need to be doing is a key way to do that.

A few of my favorite “Elimination” life coaching questions are: (more…)

Image via Wikipedia

As we get to talk with people who are interested in becoming life coaches… the biggest question always seems to be…

I want to train to be a certified life coach, but HOW DO I GET STARTED?

The situation almost reminds me of our annual family vacation.

We love to fly, but I’ll be honest, I prefer to drive for our yearly trek. Maybe it’s because I fly enough in my daily life… or maybe it’s because I just like the open road. But mostly, it’s because I love to get in our truck as a family and set out to explore the country.

As we get ready to do this… we have a process.

It usually starts with a little bit of dreaming and then it very quickly evolves into grabbing a MAP and we get started planning!

We figure out where we want to go and then we use a road map to figure how we want to get there.

These concepts apply to the process of becoming a life coach too.

However… sometimes finding a “road map” can be a bit challenging.

But that’s why we wrote an article: HOW TO BECOME A LIFE COACH – FOUR STEPS TO TAKE TO GET STARTED COACHING!

Our hope is to offer some simple steps to help you to get started on your journey (or should we say “road trip”) to becoming an AMAZING life coach!

Plus, if you’re not wildly confident that becoming a life coach would be a good fit for you, then you can also check out our free 5-Critical Questions mini-course.  It will ask you the 5 questions I wish someone would have asked me as I was making the decision about becoming a life coach.  Click here to get started on that.

Keep dreaming BIG,
Mitch Matthews

Related articles

• Training to be a life coach – Create focus (trainingtobealifecoach.com)
• Training to be a life coach: Question about developing products (trainingtobealifecoach.com)
• Training to be a life coach: Questions to help your coaching client look forward (trainingtobealifecoach.com)

So… you have a life coaching client that is a perfectionist?

Maybe you can identify with some of their challenges.  As a recovering-perfectionist myself, I sure can.

If so, then you know that perfectionism can lock up your coaching client in a lot of different ways.  It can even have an impact on how they answer your questions during a life coaching conversation.

So here’s a quick tip for when you are working with perfectionists.

(And heck, it will also help when you are working with the rest of your life coaching clients too.)

When you’re asking discovery questions… don’t ask your coaching clients for their “best” example or their “favorite” example.

Why?

Well, when you ask a perfectionist for their “best” example or their “favorite” example, that can lock them up.  They can feel put on the spot because they are not only supposed to come up with an example of something… but they have to come up with their “best” or their “favorite.”

They will cause them to mentally joust… going back and forth in order to decide.  So, you’ll loose precious time and momentum and they will shut down.

For example, early in my career as a life coach, I was working with a black-belt level perfectionist.  During a coaching conversation, we were talking about something new he wanted to try.  He wasn’t sure whether he could do it or not, so I asked him a question to help him think of a time when he’d faced something new and he had overcome it.  BUT… I didn’t understand the tip I’m offering today.

So I phrased my question:

Give me your favorite example of a time when you overcame an obstacle like this in the past.

Now, the point of the question was aimed at helping him to build a body of evidence that he could look to as he tried this new thing.

I knew a lot about his story already, so I knew that he had vast examples of challenges that he’d faced and mountains he’d climbed.  But… in that moment… he locked up.  He couldn’t think of one.

No, better said, he was locked up because he thought of a number of examples but he was wrapped around coming up with his “favorite.”

So, as I realized the problem, I rephrased the question.  I asked…

“Describe one of your favorite examples of a time you overcame an obstacle like this in the past.”

That small tweak to the question allowed him freedom.  He was able to become unstuck.  And he was able to offer up a number of different examples.

So here’s the specifics:

Change your question slightly.

Ask questions that don’t cause perfectionists (or anyone else) to lock up.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about.  See if you can see the difference:

• Describe a time when you were able to __________.
• Describe one of your favorite things to do as you _____________.
• Tell me about one of your favorite ___________.
• Describe a time when you ____________.

These small tweaks will help your life coaching get to the discovery they need without getting hung up in some of the traps that perfectionism can set.

How about you?  What are some other strategies that you have uncovered by working with perfectionists or overcoming it yourself?  Join in the conversation by clicking comments and letting us know!

Keep dreaming big and helping others to do the same,

Mitch Matthews

Related articles

• Training to Be A Life Coach – Questions to get you started (trainingtobealifecoach.com)
• Training to be a life coach: life coaching questions (trainingtobealifecoach.com)