I started coaching about two years ago as a result of wanting to do something new and different. I had thought that I was going to get my doctorate in psychology. I was applying to programs, but I quickly learned that that was a terrible mistake ¨C not because someone shouldn't be a psychologist, but I would not be a great psychologist.
When I told my friends that I realized that being a therapist was not for me, a couple of them actually went, "Thank God!" That was definitely a sign.
Through that I found coaching and fell in love with it immediately. I hired a wonderful coach and knew this was for me. I went through a coach training program through Coach U and started my business.
In about nine or ten months I had what would be considered a full practice. I had about 30 clients or more. Then in about 15 months or so it was a six-figure business. Now we're on the way to doubling that business this year.
I had a lot of people coming to me saying, "How did you do this? I'd like to do it." I started coaching other business owners on building their business. I looked at what my journey was, what my experience was, and said, "How did I make some of those leaps in that amount of time? How did I have that amount of growth in that amount of time?" I began to document it and share how I did it with the clients I was working with.
What I discovered was that in the beginning I had been promoting myself as a life and career coach and I was doing it like everyone was telling me to do it ¨C every marketer you hear. Whether you're a coach or a therapist or a plumber or a speaker, it doesn't really matter. It's not important what your genre or your field is. What's important is that we all know to build a business, you have to market.
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I was following all the normal marketing. I was talking to all the normal marketing people. I was trying to do all the strategies. This is not an exaggeration: There were moments when I would cry because I couldn't figure out my niche. I literally would. It was really hard for me and something I struggled with a lot.
I finally just said, "I don't want to do it this way anymore. I don't know if they're right or they're wrong, but it's making me miserable so I'm going to do it my way."
I really scaled back on a lot of what I now call 'hard sell marketing' and the things that I was trying to be and trying to do. What I did was just create my own way of marketing, authentic marketing.
One of the first things I did was I gave up on the idea of looking for a niche. I approached it as, "Who needs me most?"
