Marketing Over the Holidays for Business Coaches Part 4: Plan Properly

by | Dec 1, 2018 | How to Become a Business Coach

Welcome to my fourth and final post in the series on marketing over the holidays for business coaches (see the others here, here, and here). Today, I’m giving you important advice for making 2019 even better than 2018 was.

It starts by putting yourself in a space where you can really attend to your goals, priorities, and high-level strategy. And you do that by taking some time off–really!

Most business coaches get trapped thinking that relentless, unceasing productivity is what will make or break you. While hard work is an important component of success, truly successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of rhythms.

If you’re from a faith tradition rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview, you’re familiar with the concept of sabbath–or season of rest. In the Old Testament this strategy was actually required by God in order to remind the people that true abundance and justice include downtime–for everyone.

Not only that, rest is an extremely important part of the creative process. And what is planning but creating your future? In order to have a great new year, you’re going to need to reflect, think, dream, and then strategize. So first things first, take a break sometime between now and January 5th.

Rest is an extremely important part of the creative process. And what is planning but creating your future? In order to have a great new year, you're going to need to reflect, think, dream, and then strategize.

While making calls the week between Christmas and the New Year can yield tremendous rewards, don’t neglect to find at least 5-7 days sometime this month. Set boundaries to ensure you do it. Go on vacation. Visit loved ones. Get away from it all. When you’re back, dive into the process outlined below.

A Proven Strategic Planning Process for Business Coaches

1) Develop a list of the top 10 things you want to do this coming year. 

I learned this technique a few years ago at a Blair Singer event and I just LOVE it! 

Get in a quiet space. Put on some soothing, inspirational music. Make a long list of the things you want to achieve or bring into your life this year. Next, choose the top 10. Now rank them in order of priority. You’ll find that your personal achievement plan for 2019 already lives inside of you. This exercise just clarifies it in a powerful way.

Here’s an example of the kind of list you might come up with if you’re a beginning business coach. (I’ve included just 5 items for the sake of simplicity, but I recommend your list include at least 10.)

  1. Land my first five clients.
  2. Build to a consistent monthly business coaching revenue of $12,000/month.
  3. Take four weeks off throughout the year to spend time with family. 
  4. Attend my son’s soccer game every weekend this spring and fall.
  5. Put 20% of my income away for retirement. And so on…

2) Update your PowerPoint vision book with new pictures, quotes, etc. that allow you to visualize your new year as these items are achieved and enjoyed. 

As you’re taking all the time off I recommended above, don’t be afraid to get out a notebook or laptop and start developing this new vision for the new year. Just don’t start executing. That’s for after the holidays! For now, it’s just visioning and planning. No guilt allowed for doing these activities. (For a FREE vision book template, no opt-in required, click here.)

3) Create your plan. 

To achieve these goals, how much revenue does your business need to deliver? How many clients and at what monthly billing rate? For a $12k per month run-rate, you might decide to get six clients paying $2k each. So how many Complimentary Coaching Sessions will you have to do? How many Silver Bullet calls will that take you? How many hours will that require, setting appointments from your phone? How many leads? Plan it all out in intricate detail.

4) Find a friend who gets this stuff and is planning or willing to do this process too. 

In the few days before the new year, get together with your friend by phone or face-to-face and share your goal list. Also share your updated vision books with each other. Rejoice over the good things accomplished in the past year. Encourage each other with the new things you’ve planned and envisioned. If you’re people of faith, pray for each other. Bless each other and kick off the new year with passion!

5) Find a Coaches’ Coach who can help you learn how to make it all happen. 

If you’re not shooting for $15k to $20k per month or more as a business coach, you’re selling yourself short. So set high, but realistic goals for yourself and make the coming year your best year yet! If you’re new to business coaching, check out our FREE ebook, How to Become a Business Coach, to get started on the right foot.

Have a safe and happy holiday season from all of us here at Coaches’ Coach!

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