In both cases, the coaches I spoke with last week felt their training program promoted the training as leading to ICF credentials. They put money, time and heart into this training. For these coaches, this isn’t a question of do they “need” credentials. They want ICF professional credentials.

If you want ICF professional credentials:

• Look to the ICF website to verify the status of the training you are considering. Programs that have been ICF approved or accredited will be listed at the site.  Don’t just take the word of the school; confirm with ICF.
• If your training has not been approved or accredited, you may still be able to get your credential through the ICF portfolio application process. You will have to provide robust documentation that demonstrates your training meets specific qualifications and the results are not guaranteed, but a portfolio application is definitely an option to consider.
• Begin keeping records and documentation of your coach training as soon as you start.
• Establish and maintain your client log as soon as you start coaching.
• Work with a mentor coach who holds an ICF credential at or above the level for which you are applying.

Use the ICF website:

• To verify that coach training programs are approved or accredited
• To learn what is required and how to apply for a credential (the ACC for example, here)
• To understand how coaching skills are evaluated at each credential level
• To see a sample client log (template at bottom of this page)
• And of course much more – it is a very informative and reasonably easy-to-navigate site.

Finally, to find Christian coach training that is ICF approved or accredited, get The Complete Guide to Christian Coach Training. The eBook version is only $19 and for a limited time includes a bonus – the new book, Becoming a Coach: Wisdom From Leaders in Christian Coach Training.

Want ICF credentials? You can do this! Go for it!

As a coach you may not feel motivated by standard marketing principles that tell you that a well-defined niche will contribute to your overall business success. But you recognize that if you want business success you’ll likely have to get more specific about who you’ll be working with.

You hear the question “who is your ideal client?” and you begin working through a description. For some, this is when their niche becomes clear. For others, this is a process that evolves over time.

Recently I was working with a new coach and we were discussing her target market. I asked her to think about what her ideal client would Google if they were looking for solutions that her coaching would bring. Additionally, where do they hang out? What do they read? What are their hobbies? What recreation and entertainment do they enjoy?

“How do I know that?” she asked.

“Where do you want them to hang out?” I asked. “What do you want them to read? Do you want to work with people who are interested in art or in science or in sports?

A brief pause and an ah ha moment: “Well those are two completely different questions! Who is my ideal client and who do I want my ideal client to be are two different questions.”

She had been guided by the belief that there was a “right” ideal client that she needed to look for “out there.” She perceived the need for identifying and getting to know them via external research. With a different perspective, she shifted to thinking about discovering her ideal client by looking internally to describe the clients that she wanted to work with. This shift brought her new energy and insight.

At the risk of offering one person’s story (by permission) that may be understood only by a few, I’m sharing it, certain it will click with readers who need to hear it. For others, if you’re in the process of defining your niche or target market, here are some additional thoughts.

• Invite God into the process through prayer.
• Allow God’s timing.
• Do what you can with the clarity you have.
• Learn more about who you want to coach by coaching.
• Who do you want to coach? Who would you love to work with?

Defining your niche or target market is important because it helps you most effectively focus and leverage your marketing efforts. But focusing on a niche market doesn’t limit you to coaching only in that market. If your heart is stirred to coach someone who does not fit your “ideal client” description you can of course always choose to do that! Use the 80/20 principle. Who has God called you to work with 80% of the time? That is likely your target market.

Do not neglect real Person-To-Person contact!

Setting up your coaching business requires an immense amount of focused energy. If you are in the process of creating a coaching business or ministry, you know exactly what I mean. You can get focused on choosing a logo or creating your intake forms or developing your website or learning new technology.  Etc. You can get stuck in these places. You know what I mean, right?

All of these things need to be done to create your business. But, ironically, they can also get in the way of developing relationships with potential clients. It’s important to have a website with a freebie and a blog and a newsletter, but if you develop a list from those activities that doesn’t result in real live conversation you likely won’t be selling your coaching services to this list.

Much of a coaching business can be developed virtually. Using social media and sending out newsletters can be important to relationship-building, but we can’t hide behind these efforts. Ultimately to enroll clients in our coaching groups or one-on-one coaching programs, we need to reach out in real life.

By “real life” I mean it’s important to reach out over the phone or in person and have a voice-to-voice conversation. So concurrently with your business set-up, do not neglect real, live, relationship-building.

I want to challenge you to think of someone you know right now who is a potential client. Especially if they have indicated an interest in coaching with you! Call this person! Or email this person, suggest scheduling a call and include possible meeting times! If this person is a local contact, schedule coffee and meet in person!

CHALLENGE

Who will you reach out to today? This week? This month?

Schedule your answers on your calendar and make those personal contacts!

As the author of The Complete Guide to Christian Coach Training the most asked question I hear

TAKE ACTION

I encourage all coaches to research and become aware of credentials available through the International Coach Federation. Pray through decisions about credentials. Look at your credentialing opportunities in light of the unique vision to which God has called you.

• Research the International Coach Federation (ICF) credentials at www.coachfederation.org.
• Check out the professional development opportunities at Christian Coaches Network International (CCNI) at www.christiancoaches.com.
• Read my book – The Complete Guide to Christian Coach Training – 2016 edition – which simplifies your efforts, shortens your research, and profiles 13 top Christian coach training programs – many of which offer training that leads to ICF credentials. Get help right now, right here.
• Hear me speak on Empowering Impact with Coach Training, Credentials and Professional Development at the Clarity Telesummit next week, February 24 and 26. Dr. Betsy Lavin has invited me to join seven other speakers to offer Christian coaches resources for gaining focus and clarity as you develop your coaching business. It’s free – sign up here.

Stress happens when we are operating outside of our strengths. When it comes to creating a successful coaching business or ministry, it is important to be aware of our strengths and our personal resources so we can leverage them for success.

In addition to your coaching skills, the following are strengths or resources that can contribute to your success as a coaching business or ministry owner. Take a moment and consider what of the following are strengths you possess.

• Speaking
• Writing
• Traditional Networking
• Cultivating Relationships
• Social Media Savvy
• Teaching
• Selling
• Creativity
• Organizational Skills
• Business Skills
• Tech Skills

What of the above are the strengths you can leverage for success? Of the remaining, what is crucial to your business or ministry success? Of the remaining crucial activities, what are your options? You have options.

Yes, sometimes as you operate your coaching business or ministry, you must do things that are not in your wheelhouse. Hopefully that will be only up to 20% of your time. Last week, my friend Mary Verstraete of the Center for Coaching Excellence posted about personally functioning with convergence. The goal is “80 percent of who you are overlapping with 80 percent of what you do.” Click here to see her post Are You a Want-to-Be?

Otherwise, find creative solutions to deal with what you need to get done but you aren’t good at. Delegate. Hire someone. Barter. Let it go.

Are you trying to do something and you just need to let it go?

For example, if you’re not a speaker, you don’t have to make yourself into a speaker. Unless God has given you a specific directive to speak, consider the other ways to let people know about your coaching business or ministry.

What are you doing that you need to let go of?

You can’t do it all. You can’t be good at it all. Be aware of your strengths and intentionally leverage what you do best.

“What did that represent?”

Sounded like a brilliant question to me and I didn’t know exactly why.

After the demonstration, I asked this master coach about this one powerful question. “Why did you ask that question?” And he told me that his mentor coach had challenged him on avoiding “why” questions.

Oh wow! Big shift in my thinking, as the value of this suddenly clicked for me.

“Why” implies judgement. The alternatives can elicit answers free of judgement.

Right then, I made a commitment to eliminating “why” questions from my conversations – both professionally and personally. For example, as a parent I can personally attest to the value of asking a teenager an alternative to “why did you do that?” There is a much better chance of getting a real answer that opens up a helpful conversation with “what was your thinking behind that?”

As coaches we engage in conversations that that bring awareness and growth and are free of judgement. Stepping away from the “why” questions and asking alternatives inspires conversations that are foundational to powerful coaching.

I’m challenging you to avoid why questions and choose alternatives. Will you accept the challenge? Let me know how it goes!

Through this, I’ve been repeatedly reminded of something I learned my freshman year of college. As part of college orientation we were assigned Lloyd Ahlem’s book, Living with Stress. There, I was first introduced to the Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory and learned that all change – even positive, wanted change – can produce stress. This was a significant lesson for me, so much so that I have kept the book on my shelf ever since.

Now, after years of coaching people through positive change in their lives, I see clients pursuing and achieving their coaching goals and notice the stress that can appear. Even positive change – marriage, retirement or a new job – can contribute to stress. Recently, this was true of a client of mine who was thrilled to be moving with her family into a lovely new home and yet couldn’t identify why she found it difficult to make progress with other coaching goals.

Sometimes clients will say “I’m stuck, I’m in a funk, I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what to do next. I’m lacking, I’m deficient. I feel guilty.” And sometimes it is just because of all the change they are experiencing. Helping clients see when there is a lot of change going on gives them the opportunity to respond intentionally, accordingly.

Be mindful of the changes – both positive and negative – that your clients are experiencing. Share your observations when you sense it may be helpful. Ask questions such as:

How have these changes impacted you?

What are the implications of these changes on your feelings right now?

If you managed the impact of these changes as you would like, what would that look like for you?

These days, I’m asking myself these questions and finding them helpful!

I’ll be sharing a couple of my intake forms in this post, but first let me recommend samples at the following:

• The appendix of Christian Coaching: Helping Others Turn Potential Into Reality by Gary R. Collins, PH.D.
• The Coaches Toolkit in Co-Active Coaching by Kimsey-House et al.
• For members of the International Coach Federation, find sample coaching agreements in the member benefit area at the website.

I begin orienting my clients with an email including “Welcome to Coaching” in the subject line. The email has a customized written coaching agreement attached and includes a link to a webpage with instructions and intake forms. My clients complete and return the forms to me via email before our first scheduled session.

Here are samples of intake forms I use with my clients:

Session Prep Form: I include a session prep form with my intake forms and in my initial session I explain the value of completing this form 24 hours prior to each scheduled coaching session. I provide this for my clients as a Word document so they can fill it in and return it to me. Click here to see what mine looks like.

Coaching Forward: Three Basic Keys: To underscore the value of the prep form and to further help my client best understand how to maximize our time together, I include an instructional form I called “Coaching Forward: Three Basic Keys.” Click here to see what mine looks like.

1. A Calendar – Some of you are gasping because you can’t imagine life without your calendar! However, I have found it not so uncommon for aspiring and new coaches not to have and use a basic calendar. Using a calendar is probably not optional if you are expecting success, although there are many different options for what to use and how to do this. Some love electronic calendars but others work best traditionally, on paper. Yes, you can use pencil and paper if that’s your thing. Just do what works for you! Reference it every day. I suggest intentionally including the specifics of your calendar in prayer every day.

These are the tools that work for me:  Google Calendar on my desktop and phone. Evernote for lists, notes and more on my desktop and phone. And a new tool this year (involving pencil and paper!) for meaningful planning – a Passion Planner found here.

2. Scheduled Office Hours – Often aspiring and new coaches think of their schedule as wide open, with maybe a class and a client session here and there. Otherwise the hours in the day are up for grabs. Are you available for coffee? Anytime! Can you help paint my kitchen on Thursday afternoon? Of course! Will you be the event coordinator for the next conference? We’re meeting every Monday afternoon for planning. OK! Sure, as an entrepreneur working from home, you have flexibility! But set office hours and invest in establishing and growing your business or ministry during your those hours. If you take “time off” of office hours, do so intentionally and reschedule what you had on your work schedule just as you would if you were employed for someone else.

Check out this excellent article at Inc. that references office hours and other great habits for working from home.

3. A Plan – What goes on your calendar and what besides classes and client sessions do you need to plan? Well, a lot actually! Hopefully, you are learning about all the aspects of putting together a coaching business or ministry through your training program and by working with a coach. Pulling it all together and establishing your unique plan is essential. Don’t worry if your plan for 2015 isn’t crystal clear right now. It’s essentially a work in progress anyway. God regularly reshapes and even redirects our plans as we daily bring them to prayer, right? But write down what you do know about how God is leading you in 2015 and then set goals and determine next steps and take action!

Here is a practical article from ICF with great tips for developing your plan.

4. Your Passion – Don’t create a plan, schedule office hours and put stuff on your calendar without it all reflecting your personal passion and sense of purpose. If you are not sure of your passion or purpose, work with a coach who can help you get clear on what matters most to you and how you can align your work and life accordingly in 2015!

Find Christian coaches at the Christian Coaches Network here.

If you’d like to work with me as your coach you can find info here. For coaching support for any of the areas mentioned above, email me to let me know you are interested and we will schedule a time to talk about how coaching can support all the best for you in 2015!

Don’t begin this year without a calendar, scheduled office hours, a plan and your passion!

There are so many reasons to be a part of this eSummit! Including…

Join the bigger Christian coaching community. Connect with coaches with rich and diverse backgrounds, training, and vision for coaching – like-minded coaches who share Christian faith. Be inspired.

Be equipped and energized. Learn. Topics include everything from coaching skills mastery to successful business development to integrating the practice of coaching with faith and ministry.

Register now here.

Speakers include:

Jennifer Britton

Doug Lundrigan

Ircel Harrison

Jennie Turton

Gary Wood

Christopher McCluskey

Chris Kirby

Nathan Kreger

Keith Webb

Steve Ogne

Gary Wood

Susan Whitcomb

Jane Creswell

Tony Stoltzfus

Ben Koh

Michael Marx

Tanya Smith

Gary Collins

Bryan Wintersteen

Tracy Stevens

Cheryl Scanlan

Mary Verstraete

Kim Avery

Christina Lee

Tim Figley

Lyn Eichmann

Fran La Mattina

Janice LaVore-Fletcher

Diane Wiater

Jory Fisher

Sam Farina

Gary Beck

Nancy Branton

Register now. I will be hosting the evening sessions. “See” you there!

Not a Christian Coaches Network member? You don’t have to be to attend the conference, but I definitely recommend getting an annual membership to CCN at the same time you register for the conference to result in great savings and a remarkably reasonable cost for the combination. (I’ve been a member since 2003!)

In the spirit of full disclosure, the link in this post is an affiliate link which means I may receive compensation as a thank you from CCN for referring you. If you prefer a non-affiliate link, simply go to the Christian Coaches website here.