The common themes that came out of Foundations were 1) how am I going to find clients and 2) I don’t know what I’m doing. Now that I’ve been through it, I can safely say, for me, both themes were driven by fear of the unknown, the inner critic, and most likely, imposter syndrome… all the goodies. I can sit here and tell you ‘It will all be ok’ but multiple people told me that and it did very little to calm my nerves. What I can do, is tell you about my experience - describe some of the things I tried - and maybe that will get the creative juices flowing.

Whenever I would start a new job, the onboarding process would be broken down into 30-60-90 days. I wanted to follow the same theme here since I think they’re important milestones, but instead of days, I’ll use the number of coaching hours as a reflection point. I could dream up some clever reason for this, but the fact of the matter is, in order to apply for the ACC level certification with the ICF, a coach needs to complete 100 hours of coaching. There is method to their madness, which I understand more now than I did at the time. When I reached my 100 hours I noticed a significant improvement in my coaching, in how I felt as a coach and how I approached the process and frameworks. It came with practice, reflection, and learning. In July 2019, it was a measure I could use to track my milestones for my coaching and building my practice. Right now, July 2020, I can say that the 100 hours is symbolic, meaningful, and necessary.

I’ll start with the first 30 hours. The first thing I did when I finished Foundations was to tell anyone who would listen that I had made a shift in my career and I was now a coach. I posted my message on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. I sent emails and WhatsApp messages to my friends and family. Did I feel uncomfortable doing this? Honestly, yes, and I’ll tell you why. I’ve never felt comfortable with selling things, especially myself, so I reframed it in my head. I was asking people for help. I figured people like to help people. I’m essentially asking people to help me kick off my coaching career. I was overwhelmed with the support I was receiving. Not that clients were starting to pour in, but I got a few referrals and a few clients. What was incredible to hear were the number of people who said to me “Yes! This is what you should be doing!”.

The initial communication with my network focused on 1) what I was doing, 2) who I thought I wanted to work with 3) where I am in the process 4) my ask. 1) to 3) is going to vary depending on you, but 4) went something like this: “If you know anyone who would like to be coached, let me know. As part of the formal coach certification, I need to complete 100 hours of coaching, so I will be offering coaching to anyone interested at a reasonable rate”. So in the end, I asked for help. This was the first thing I needed to reconcile in my head.

The second thing that came up for me was my fee. For me, asking for help meant that my fee was going to have to stay low. I am learning, after all. That didn’t mean that I was going to coach for free. I still needed to charge for the service I was providing. This was the second thing I needed to reconcile in my head. CHARGE! I needed to charge so people were invested in coaching. There’s little value in coaching if the client isn’t invested. People have to be coming to you with a reason for wanting to work with a coach. They have to be part of the way there. You can educate them on what coaching is and what it’s not. At the end of the day, they need to come into it wanting to make a change and they have to be invested in that change, even if it was just a cup of coffee. Remember, even if you’re a beginner, you’re providing a service. You’re adding value. You are a coach! Refining the technique (and the confidence) comes with time, but the Foundations course gives you just that, a foundation to work with. Don’t underestimate it. The ICF also required that 75% of your first 100 hours are compensated (coffee counts!), so if you can exchange coaching for something, you should. I’ve just started working with someone who will create a logo in exchange for a few coaching sessions!

Finally, a commitment to coaching is also a time commitment. Coaching is about change. It’s about making a shift, developing new habits or new ways of thinking. This takes time. It doesn’t happen after one or two weeks. So in addition to the ‘fee’, whatever that might look like, I would also only work with clients who were willing to make a time commitment in order to gain the most value out of the coaching. I started with a minimum of 6 sessions over 3-4 months. While this is still a short amount of time in coaching terms, I thought it was a good place to start.

These were things I needed to reconcile in my head to move through my first 30 hours.

1) Ask for help to find clients
2) Charge a fee (or swap services)
3) Engage with people wanting to put in the time

My first 30 hours is going to look different than your first 30 hours, but here’s what I did. I started to experiment with ‘fees’. It depended on who I was talking to, how much they could and were willing to pay. I would say “I don’t want finances to be a barrier to coaching, so we can work with what’s within your budget”. My first client bought me dinner. Another client would buy me an oat m’lk turmeric latte every time we met (delicious!), and another client paid me $240 for 6 sessions and a Discovery Session. As I started to work with more people, I would get more practice and build more confidence. I would start to see the value I was adding in the service I was providing. I also started to tweak how I was doing things. Everything from how I would ‘pitch’ my services during my consultation to the tools I was using in my sessions.

On the coaching side, the thing that made a big difference in how I was coaching was the reflecting I was doing after my sessions. Questions I would ask myself:

What did the client want?
What shift did they make?
What did I do in service of the client?
What would I do differently next time?

Spending 10 mins after each session made a big difference in my coaching. I also started doing this with my business; asking myself similar questions at the end of the week. We teach our clients to reflect, we should do the same!

You’re probably asking yourself ‘what about a website?’, ‘what about branding?’… I have to admit, I had come up with a name, I did have my website set up, and I was using a free accounting software called Wave to invoice my clients from day 1. I set myself up on the accounting software because it was quick, easy, and it meant I was starting to develop a process for running my business from the start. Did I NEED any of these things to get started, absolutely not. They did not make or break anything. At times, they were a way for me to feel ‘busy’ while avoiding what I really needed to be doing: get out there, find clients, start coaching.

My first 30 hours were about learning; learning about coaching, about myself and about how to navigate my network. Every interaction, every post, every session is an opportunity to learn and to grow. It wasn’t about selling. It was about building connections, telling people what I do, why I do it, asking them where they are in their career and in life, and asking for help. Keep learning, keep exploring, and keep reflecting. Oh, and tell anyone who will listen that you’re a coach, it’s a wonderful thing!