Explore A Wealth of Business Information

When you decided to become a coach perhaps you quickly signed up for a coach training school in order to learn the skills of coaching. Did you know when you made that decision to become a coach that you were probably also deciding to become a business owner? This requires another set of skills and knowledge that can be studied as well. Unfortunately, most coaching schools leave you to do independent study on becoming an entrepreneur.

How much have you been studying the world of business? The resources are vast and there for the learning. One of the most important attitudes of a good coach is that of curiosity and I would like to challenge you to turn your curiosity towards how to run a successful coaching business.

Think first about business resources in general. There are several important websites to know about – the US Small Business Administration and SCORE immediately come to mind. I also find lots of helpful information at smallbusiness.com and entrepreneur.com.

I also recommend reading business books and listening to some of the myriad of free teleseminars about business and marketing. It is easy to let yourself get overwhelmed by all that is out there – choose a person or two that makes sense to you and follow their advice and programs. What you don’t want to do is treat your business like the soup of the day – now this program, now that one. Don’t be seduced by the newest, hottest ideas. Find something that makes sense to you and apply it consistently and persistently over a six month period before you evaluate success or failure.

Running a coaching business is hard work and can be complicated. There are many sources of wisdom and here are some that I have found invaluable over the years. Today I am giving away the farm – I am naming names of the people that I value and have used as important resources. I don’t agree with everyone on the list, but I have learned from them all. I know not everyone will be a good fit for you, but here is a place to start in your quest for role models.

First, there are several people who have been around for years and produce consistently valuable business information for coaches. I have learned a great deal from Robert Middleton, Andrea J. Lee, Suzanne Falter Barnes and Ellen Britt. Although you may shy away from the idea of internet marketing as some coaches do, as an entrepreneur in the 2000s, you can not afford to do so. Learn from some internet geniuses such as Dan Kennedy, Alex Mandossian, Rich Schefren and Milana Lishensky (no, Milana is not a coach, but she is an internet marketer TO coaches!). And finally, I am hot lately about two people that have great new books out. Check out Mike R. Jay and Cameron Johnson for great ideas for you entrepreneurial coaches.

Now I have just given you far more people than you could possibly follow and they have far more info than you could possibly digest. What I hope you will do is mark some time on your calendar to do some exploring and reading on these websites. See who speaks to you. Get some great information and get to work on the business of becoming the entrepreneur that will make your business thrive.