Did you feel like a complete beginner when you first started coaching? I know I did.
Nothing I’d accomplished before coaching seemed relevant.
I felt like a nobody.
I felt like a fraud.
I completely dismissed my prior career. My fifteen years of leadership experience felt like nothing.
My Master’s degree in Educational Effectiveness and my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Economics seemed irrelevant, so I dismissed them. And I was embarrassed to mention that I trained as a teacher at Oxford University. After all, how was that connected to coaching?
When I began coaching I used to wish the years away. If only I could say I’d been coaching for a year, for two years, for five years… Maybe then people would take me seriously.
I tried to project gravitas. Even though I never felt it. I never smiled in photos. I never joked with clients.
I never felt enough.
Over time, without realizing it, my confidence grew. I began to experience that I could effect powerful transformation on any client I worked with. I began to see the impact of my writing. I even began to grow in confidence on stage and on camera.
What’s one quality your clients see in you that other people rarely see?
One day I hired an expensive photographer and in the prep for our photoshoot, he asked me a question that had a big impact on me. “What’s one quality your clients see in you that other people rarely see?”
I asked all my clients this question and the same answer kept coming back… Your sense of humor and fun.
So we took ridiculous photos like this on our photoshoot and I had a blast!
I began to create costume parties for my clients. Here’s a 4PC onesie party. I’m the sheep!
I began to share stories and photos where I no longer needed to look my best.
Over time, I’m learning to move from being The Prosperous Coach to being The Preposterous Coach!
I don’t take myself so seriously. I laugh at myself more often.
A puppy helps!
My kids help! My wife helps!
I recommend you try the same.
Stop taking yourself so seriously. Laugh at yourself more often.
You’ll be surprised how much your clients appreciate it.
Love. Rich