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September 16, 2022 • Rich Litvin

How to become an influential coach

A Prosperous Coach learns to create clients by invitation and referral, one conversation at a time. Over time, they increase their income and impact, to build a word-of-mouth business. 

A Powerful Coach, learns to build a community. They command fees beyond the range of most coaches. They are sought after because they’ve built influence and a body of work. They become known in a crowded marketplace because they share ideas of distinction.

A Powerful Coach becomes preeminent – extremely distinguished, outstanding, and admired by others.

The enemy of preeminence is a “fixed” mindset:

  • You want to look good
  • You avoid challenges
  • You give up easily
  • You ignore useful negative feedback
  • You feel threatened by others’ success

Preeminence is a direct result of a “growth” mindset:

  • You’d rather learn than look good
  • You embrace challenges 
  • You keep going when you fail
  • You learn from criticism
  • You find lessons and inspiration in others’ success

Creating intellectual property (IP) can sound intimidating. It’s easier than you think… 

I collect interesting photos. Every time I see a picture that sparks my interest, I save it or take a screenshot. 

If I can’t think what to write about, I pull out a photo. Something always comes…

Here are some of the photos I’ve saved in the past few weeks:

The photo at the top of this article is of Arnold Schwarzenegger (6ft 2in) with the wrestling star, Andre The Giant (7ft 4in) and Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball star (7ft 1in) made me smile. 

When I saw it I had the idea of writing about the relativity of high fees. What looks like a high fee to one person is quite low to another. What looks like a high fee early in your career, can feel a lot lower with the passage of time.

This incredible photo is of the Granville–Paris Express in 1895. The train was running late and the driver was trying to make up for lost time. The locomotive approached the station too fast and the driver applied the brakes too late. The train crashed through the buffer stop, crossed the station concourse and smashed through the station wall, falling onto the Place de Rennes.

When I saw this photo I had the idea of writing about the principle that’s been a driving force in my life and my teaching. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again. Slow down to speed up…

This photo inspired last Saturday’s article. Humphrey Bogart wore lifts on his shoes because he was an inch shorter than his co-star and the movie studio didn’t want anyone to know.  This reminded me of an idea I discuss a lot. Too often we compare how we feel at our worst, with how others look at their best.

The photo above is an image of an online influencer trying to convince you how wonderful her life is. At least she’s honest enough to tell you it’s not her real bed. But I’m tired of these fake “life is amazing” photos. I live with an 8 year old, an 11 year old, a musician, a piano, a drum set and a puppy. Life is pretty real, noisy and messy in my home!

I’ve got no idea (yet) how I’ll use this image but it was too good not to save!

If you want to be a Powerful Coach, with a body of work behind you, you need to share ideas of distinction. 

How do you do that? 

You share ideas. Any ideas. With no concern whether or not they are ideas of distinction. 

You know who will love your ideas? Your people. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. Write, speak and make videos about what interests you. 

If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re my people. I don’t appeal to everyone. I don’t try to. I get unsubscribes to every single newsletter I send out. 

Pick one of the above photos, or find one of your own, write a few words about it and share them with one of your clients. 

It’s time to be a Powerful Coach – because you are more powerful than you know… 

Love. Rich

 

PS. Dramatically increase your confidence as a coach by mastering enrolling clients. Drastically increase your ability to raise your fees and up-level your clients. And learn to have fun making money. Join me on The 90 Day Money Game. There’s still time to join us…   

 

PLUS, whenever you’re ready – here are 4 more ways you can drastically increase your income and impact as a world-class coach:

  1. Assess your current coaching level and learn how to get to your next level. Read – or remind yourself of – The Litvin Levels, from The Prosperous Coach.
  2. Watch me coach some of the top coaches on the planet, in order to drastically uplevel your coaching skills. Join me on How To Coach A Superhero: The 4PC edition. 
  3. Imagine joining a Deep Coaching experience alongside the members of 4PC, my community of high-level coaches… We only offer The 4PC Accelerator once a year and it always sells out in advance. Save $1,000 with early-bird pricing.
  4. Learn how to enroll and coach successful, talented and ambitious clients – with power and impact. Join my flagship program, Project Kairos – for 8 months of guidance, challenge and support to master creating clients.

 

Transforming world-class leaders into world-class coaches.
That’s what we do.

If this sounds like you, let’s talk and explore if working together is a good fit.

Learn more about ways to work together

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