Life Coaching Blog - By Will Craig

What If?

Bill@CoachTrainingAlliance.com (CTA Admin) — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:04:33 -0700

by Will Craig

Have you ever had to make a tough decision and thought to yourself, 'I don't know what to do!' More than likely you know what you must do, you just may not like the way it sounds in your head.

It may require you stepping out of your comfort zone. You may have to do something that is a little risky. You may have to commit to a course of action that will change your life and the lives of the people around you.

These are scary thoughts. The fact is, we can all think of a dozen reasons NOT to do something we actually feel compelled to do. Deep inside we know we MUST answer our calling, yet we start to play the 'What If' game. What if this bad thing happens... What if that bad thing happens...

Try this
Think of one good reason. Then think of another. Think of the best reason. Write down (and this is the key, writing it down) ALL your compelling reasons for pursuing your passion. Write down the benefits, not just for yourself, but for everyone you will touch with the 'new' you.

NOW play the 'What If' game.

What if it all did work out for the best? What if it were better than you imagined? What would your life be like--and the lives of others--if you really did become all you know yourself to be?

Most people want things to be different, they're just not willing to change. What will it be for you?

Will Craig is the founder and president of Coach Training Alliance and co-author of Think and Grow Rich for Coaches and the #1 best-selling Coach Training Accelerator.

CTA President, Will Craig, has an important message for you.

Bill@CoachTrainingAlliance.com (CTA Admin) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:56:08 -0700

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Get Human

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:55:09 -0800

Will Craig

by Will Craig

Your New Year is off to a flying start—and with your strong connection to coaching—I’m sure your plans and preparations are outrageous and compelling. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Momentum Stallers
Some of the things that can stall forward momentum faster than anything are telephone inquiries to companies that force you to interact with an automated machine. More and more, it seems, companies are doing all they can NOT to talk to their customers.

What passes for "customer service" these days drives me crazy. I especially have challenges with the endless "menus" of options, none of which seem to apply to me.

Here's something that will save you time, money, and frustration: Get Human This is a list of U.S. companies and their direct phone numbers that enable you to talk to a real, live human being... imagine that!

Here's the Code
Included in each listing is the sequence of keys to push to bypass the insipid menus (i.e., Press 0# at each prompt, ignoring messages -OR- Say "agent" at each prompt, ignoring messages). Try it! You'll feel like you've broken the code.

It's a nice little tool to add to your info economy toolbox. Be sure to Forward this article along to your friends and clients. We can all use the extra momentum in reaching our goals this year!

Will Craig is the founder and president of Coach Training Alliance. When not on the phone he can be found developing new programs and building a worldwide alliance of co-creative coaches.

Absorbing New Clients

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 07:41:59 -0800

Will Craig

One of the reasons most of us dislike marketing is that we relate it to selling and advertising. Let's face it... none of us want to be sold something, much less do the selling.

The most important thing to know about marketing your professional services is experience. Not how much experience you have, but how much you let your prospects experience you as a person! People need to know you before they can trust you with their private thoughts and personal situations.

Allow people to experience you before they make a buying decision. You can do this in ways that don't require advertising or selling. In fact, those two intrusive techniques will cost you clients.

Gradually absorb new client by building awareness, interest, and an understanding of YOU. In other words, educate your market. Consider the following absorption techniques that enable people to get to know you:

1. a free subscription to your monthly newsletter
2. free participation in a teleclass you teach
3. free attendance at one of your public speaking engagements
4. a free 30 minute coaching consultation or meeting

The next steps includes fee-based options:

5. a copy of your audio tape or book
6. attendance at your next workshop
7. group coaching or masterminding
8. one-on-one coaching

Notice how each step builds upon the last. You can find more details on these absorption techniques at Fill Your Coaching Practice. The idea is to give part of yourself away, but don't give it all away. People will want to coach with you because of who you are and what you have demonstrated you can do for them.

Allow prospective clients to be gradually absorb into your practice and they will cheerfully soak in all you have to offer.

Focusing On Your Niche

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 07:31:43 -0800

Will Craig

Discovering and capitalizing on your niche can be the single most powerful concept you develop for your coaching practice. Defining your area of expertise and marketing that to the world differentiates you from your competition and allows you to operate from a position of strength and confidence.

Here are three reasons to become an expert in your field:

Experts make more money.
Command more respect.
Gain more control.

The Magic of Thinking Small
In developing your niche, smaller is better. The more focused you are on a specific market, the better you can serve that market. The smaller the market, the easier it is for you to research and meet the needs of those clients. The added bonus is that it is easier and also less expensive to market to those prospective clients.

Serving too many different types of clients can stunt your growth and hold you back. You can't be all things to all people. People won't be able to "get you," which - after all - is what they are buying. Is it not?

Discovering and refining your niche is a special focus of the ebook, Exploring Coaching and the new Sage and Scholar's Guide series (see below).

Consider defining what you are good at and narrowing your focus and client base. Marketing your business will be easier, you will provide better service, and you will be richly rewarded while gaining high visibility.

New Series on Specialty Coaching

In the new Sage and Scholar's Guide� programs, distinguished authors and experts share their secrets to success in coaching specialties areas like Singles, Entrepreneurs, Executives, and more.

CTA President, Will Craig says, "We've always wanted to offer advanced coaching programs that would help coaches define their niche and make their coaching businesses extremely profitable. This is the perfect vehicle to learn from the top coaches and mentors in the profession without spending a fortune." Learn more...

Giving Thanks for Your Gift

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 07:33:01 -0800

Will Craig

by Will Craig

There are times when you know -without a doubt- you have been placed on this earth for a reason. If you've ever wandered around aimlessly contemplating your purpose and not finding a satisfactory answer... chances are your 'calling' has now made itself loud and clear.

You are a coach. This is your gift. You're not just thinking about it. You're not just playing at it. You're not just preparing to do it one day in the future. You ARE a coach and there are clients in desperate need of your services.

The question to ask yourself is, 'Am I doing them a disservice by NOT showing up in their lives?'

Changing Lives
If you're dealing with worthiness questions, join the club. As professionals, we all have either been there or we visit there from time to time. It's normal. This means you're taking your work seriously and recognize the awesome responsibility associated with changing lives for the better.

Refuse to allow yourself the luxury of thinking you're not ready for that next client who appears to be 'out of your league.' Refuse to listen to that voice in your head telling you, 'maybe someday when things are better, when I'm better prepared, when I have more experience, when the timing is right.'

Rise to your challenge. Accept your gift and you will experience more personal growth than you've ever known. Embrace your destiny and your clients, as well as everyone else you touch in this life, will be better off just for having shared your space.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Will Craig is the founder and president of Coach Training Alliance. He lives near Boulder, Colorado with his wife Lanie and their 2 1/2 year-old son, Griffin.

Coaching Momentum

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:53:29 -0800

Will Craig

by Will Craig

Events that take place in our lives, and the lives of our clients, are not always predictable much less controllable. Sometimes we work for weeks or months toward a goal only to have our efforts thwarted in the home stretch. Our clients experience the same challenges and, often times, this is what has brought them to us in the first place.

When confronted with these situations, we find ourselves wishing for other choices. Wouldn't it be great if we were not in the predicament we find ourselves? Wouldn't it be great if such-and-such had not happened? Wouldn't it be great if we could turn back the clock?

The fact is, we have none of these options.

Responding With Ability
We do have a responsibility to ourselves, our clients, and our loved ones to push forward. We must respond with ability (the components of responsibility), and in this case, the ability possessed by each of us is coaching. Where is our energy directed? Where can we do the most good? What are we focusing on?

Are we looking back in anger and frustration? Are we wallowing in negativity and resignation with the Despair Triplets "coulda, shoulda, and woulda?" Or are we creating a vision for our future that engenders excitement and anticipation? Are we helping our clients envision the life they truly desire and deserve?

Newton's First Law of Motion states, "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion." It's time to get it in gear. It's time to make things happen. Granted, it will be challenging to build momentum from a complete standstill. This, good friend, is what we signed on for when we joined the profession.

It is easy -almost reassuring in a strange way- to look behind us and justify all the reasons that have us frozen in our tracks. It's a little bit tougher, yet far more rewarding, to look to the horizon and take the next step -however small- and keep moving forward!

When the Student is Ready...

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 07:43:57 -0700

Will Craig

by Will Craig, Knowledge Guide

In the �olden days� you went to school, graduated, and got a job. All you needed to know you found out in about 12 years and that was that. To a degree this is still true. Talk to any 16-year-old and you soon learn they know everything.

I hated school and can remember, once it was �over,� and I graduated from high school, I was so elated that I would never have to go back again. The two decades that followed found me comfortable with that notion, if not somewhat unfulfilled. It took me twenty years to realize I had the power to change my life. Since then I�ve probably attended more seminars, workshops, and classes than I ever did growing up. And--ironically--it�s fun!

I took my first college course at the age of 36. It wasn�t so much to get a degree as it was to gain the knowledge in order to do something rewarding. I went on to complete a Bachelor�s degree and, ultimately, attended graduate school at a major university. With a Master�s degree in Education and Human Development I was well on my way to doing my life�s work and had created a new and fulfilling life for myself.

The learning didn�t stop there, of course. I continually seek new educational opportunities. The one lesson that has become clear to me:

You receive an education whether you go to school or not.

Do you want to learn the hard way, kicking and screaming as I did for two decades, or do you want to have choices in your life?

What lessons do you need or want to learn? When you're ready, your teacher will magically appear and--if you seize the opportunity--the experience will be more fun than you ever imagined!

Will Craig is President of Coach Training Alliance and co-author of the #1 best-selling coaching self-study course, the 'Coach Training Accelerator.'

Back to School

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 07:06:30 -0700

Will Craig

by Will Craig

The kids are back in school. Are you?

We live in a knowledge-powered economy and if we�re not continually upgrading our capabilities we become obsolete. The good news is the educational choices we make at 18 don�t need to be hard and fast choices we�re stuck with for a lifetime.

You can choose to look at lifelong learning as the homework assignment that never goes away. Or, you can choose to look at it as an essential strategy for living long and living well.

I�m not suggesting you must go to college to gain the necessary knowledge. What college did do for me was make me recognize that organized learning, whether in traditional schools or through condensed courses and teleclasses, would significantly shorten my learning curve.

�Don�t let your schooling interfere with your education.�
- Mark Twain

Had I to do it all over again I might choose a succession of bite-sized learning opportunities in the specific areas of my interest (recognizing those change over time). Short-term, condensed educational programs have become more available and recognized as an efficient way to gain specific expertise in less time without spending your life�s savings on a long program.

Learning does not take place in a box we call a classroom or in a hotel conference room. We learn more, we learn better, and we learn faster by doing and being actively involved. How are you upgrading your knowledge and abilities?

Will Craig is President of Coach Training Alliance and co-author of the #1 best-selling coaching self-study course, the 'Coach Training Accelerator.'

Proposing to Your Clients

will@coachtrainingalliance.com (Will Craig) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 07:43:44 -0700

Will Craig

by Will Craig

A few issues ago we talked about rapport-building techniques for getting clients NOW! In fact, we said the only way to 'sell' coaching is to live it, breathe it, walk it, and talk it. This brought an interesting question from a coach that recently completed our advanced marketing program. She writes:

'I purchased your Fill Your Coaching Practice course. I have followed all the steps that work for me, and now I have tons of leads coming in. My big gap is in closing people and making them a client. I am willing to do what it takes to be confident when closing the deal.'

This email was as exciting as it was befuddling. Here is a truly motivated coach who followed the steps in the program and produced enormous results. Fantastic! Then, somehow, the final piece of the puzzle was missed. Not to worry.

There is no lesson on closing. The simple reason... as coaches, we don't close people.

Informed Decision
Just as traditional marketing doesn't work in marketing coaching practices, traditional selling tactics don't work very well either. If you're looking for good closing lines you won't find them here. Let's face it... people don't want to be sold. I don't, do you? People want to make an informed decision based on their experience of you.

After you've spent time developing the initial relationship, take it to the next level. Propose!

Propose they experience a complimentary coaching session with you. Then, have THEM propose the next step. When done correctly and confidently you won't have to close the sale. Your prospects will be asking YOU when they can start.

Will Craig is the founder and president of Coach Training Alliance and author of Fill Your Coaching Practice.