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Welcome to part 2 in the series of articles on the 7 steps to earning your living as a successful professional in any field. Over the past year I’ve been isolating the specific steps involved, and refining them. What’s resulted is a ‘roadmap’, and while the version of it I’ve created is aimed at coaches, therapists, trainers and consultants, with a little creativity, you’ll be able to see how these steps relate to anyone who wants to transition to doing work that involves you being a ‘trusted advisor’ to others (e.g. expert / speaker / professional services etc).
I’ll be going through each of the 7 steps over the next 7 weeks, but if you want to download my new guide, “The 7 Steps for Earning Your Living As a Successful Coach” and get all 7 of them right away, you can get the guide free here. As you read this concise guide, you’re going to discover that it’s simpler than you may have been led to believe. So let’s look at Step 2 – Impact.
STEP 2 – IMPACT: Practice is the mother of all skill, so practice, practice, practice
Impact is what people pay you for; your ability to help them create the results they desire and the transformations they want to experience. In any career, your ability to make a difference to your clients is fundamental to lasting success. For example, coaching, therapy and consulting are ‘conversation professions’, and the successful coach is a master of having impactful conversations. Practice is the mother of all skill, so start developing your understanding of your clients and what matters most to them, then put your time, energy and resources into developing your ability to help them achieve those outcomes.
The Myth vs The Reality of Step 2
When people first start out in a new field, it’s easy to think you need to ‘know everything’ in order to make a difference to your client. But high performance in any field typically comes from having less on your mind, so you’re able to bring the most relevant question, insight or information to your client.
For instance, conventional wisdom tells coaches you need to ‘fill your toolbox’ with tools and techniques before you can have a big impact, but the reality is this: the insights and realisations that are going to make the biggest difference are going to come from within your client. Until your client can feel a sense of trust and connection with you, they’re not likely to have those insights while they’re working with you. All too often, coaches and other transformation professionals are so keen to impress their client with tools and techniques that they overlook the basics: listening, calibration and connection. These so-called “basics” are actually the foundation of all great coaching, and are infinitely more powerful than any tool or technique could ever be.
STEP 2 FOCUS
– Practice having as many connected conversations as possible.
– Conduct ‘pro-bono’ sessions with friends, colleagues and others.
– As you practice your craft, you’ll see your impact increasing.
Next week we’ll be looking at Step 3 – Value, but if you want to get all 7 steps right now, you can download “The 7 Steps for Earning Your Living As a Successful Coach”.
By the way, during the Certified Clarity Coach Training programme, we put a big focus on establishing and strengthening your foundations, and include plenty of practice sessions so that you start building the skills, intuitions and reference experiences for great coaching. We also focus on helping you get the kind of certainty in your own and your clients’ innate capacity for resilience, realisation and transformation (you may have got a sense of this if you listened to my coaching session with Pam Featherstone, or the ‘unpacking’ of it I did on my podcast here.)
The programme is a 10-month immersion into the principles behind clarity. It’s formally open for registration and it’s not just for coaches; we’ve had all sorts of people go through the programme including computer programmers, doctors, call centre workers, lawyers, parents, PR specialists, therapists, office workers, entrepreneurs, surgeons, people who are already coaches and consultants and trainers and even a professional footballer. If you’re interested it’s worth knowing that we’re not running the programme next year so the intake that’s starting this September (2018) is the last chance you’ll get to join us until 2020 at the very earliest. So if you want to find out how to become a Clarity Coach and see what’s involved in bringing an understanding of these principles into every aspect of your life click here.
To your increasing clarity!
Big love
Jamie Smart
Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Speaker and Executive Coach
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready… here are 6 ways I can help you get the clarity and results that matter to you:
1. Listen to the ‘Get Clarity’ Podcast www.jamiesmart.com/claritynow/
2. Hire me to speak at your event: www.jamiesmart.com/book-jamie-to-speak-about/
If you’re a coach or interested in becoming one…
3. Join The Thriving Coaches Facebook group
4. Listen to The Thriving Coaches Podcast
5. Take part in the Thriving Coaches Blueprint. our 90 day, rapid-implementation programme to help you get more clients and grow your coaching or therapy practice (doors now open!)
6. Learn more about the Certified Clarity Coach Training Programme, our 10-month deep-immersion into the principles behind clarity (doors now open! The programme starts September 2018 and won’t run again until 2020 at the earliest.)
If you’re looking to change job, career or move from FTE to something more fulfilling…
7. Join the Transition Launchpad Facebook group
8. Learn more about Escape Velocity: The Transition Blueprint our 90 day programme to help you transition into doing fulfilling work.