Even though almost all coaches start out coaching whoever they can, eventually coaches start to realize that certain kinds of people are more fun to work with. They are motivated, working on interesting projects, and inspiring to be around. That’s when coaches get this idea that if they could get more and more people like this their levies would be better.
What’s Behind It:
Coaches usually follow this tactic because . . .
- They keep getting no’s as they begin to raise their rates and they think ‘more inspiring people’ have more money. So if they can just find them they can make more.
- They are struggling to be inspired by the clients or people showing up in their practice and they are hoping a new kind of client will breathe motivation and inspiration into their work and make the coaching easier.
- They see other coaches talking about their amazing clients and think if they could only get clients like that they would have ‘made it’ as a coach.
The Problem:
This tactic isn’t bad at face value, choosing to work with or focusing on clients who inspire is a great idea, the problem comes when you think this will change something about you or your coaching. Your uninspiring prospects or clients aren’t your problem. Your lack of inspiration isn’t caused by them. And finding more inspiring clients might work for a while but even then the underlying need to prove yourself or desire to experience something different will return.
What a Master Coach Does Instead:
A master coach chooses to be inspired by her clients. They don’t expect their clients to show up in a particular way to find something about them that’s incredible. They stand in the place where they can see the client’s possibility and don’t move no matter what the client does or how they show up.
Of course, they’re human and they stumble and get into negative thinking or even get discouraged by their clients sometimes, but they always do the work to get back into believing in their clients.
Yes they try to be around interesting people and they seek out clients that are fun to work with, but they never get caught in the illusion that there are some mystical clients out there that will change them or their practice. They show up, do the work, honor their own and their client’s human foibles, and choose to believe in possibility anyway.
