Your first task is to think about your positioning and then evolve a business model to maximise your profitability.
You need to develop a plan that focuses on the following key areas:

How You Will Win Clients

The starting point is to focus on your practice positioning. Is there a market area, industry or niche that you wish to specialise in?

Backup your positioning with good quality documentation:

a. That describes you, your practice and your experience
b. Develop client focused documentation
c. Start networking and marketing.

 

How You Will Build Your Business Model

After you have decided on your niche and developed your core marketing plan you need to build a business model that will maximise your profitability.

 

The typical drivers of the business model are:

a. The number of new clients that your practice will acquire per month/week/annum
b. Your conversion rate
c. Your billing rate
d. The optimum number of hours you need to work to balance lifestyle with work.

The business model must be systemised and leveraged.

You Need to Also Work on a Personal Self Development Program to:

 

1. Improve your experience level
2. Improve your understanding of business and management theory.
3. Improve your confidence & networking.

 

 

Why Get Started?

 

Starting a coaching business or adding an advisory arm to your existing practice makes a lot of sense.

 

If you look at your key drivers and configure your practice correctly then you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars out of a very rewarding profession.

There is little inventory and investment cost.

The market is huge

Even in a recession your clients need your services.

If you automate your business then the practice can be leveraged so that it can be built as a multiple person practice.

 

The concept of Business Coaching originates from the sporting arena where coaches have for centuries helped athletes achieve their goals.

Coaching is a slightly different concept to consulting, but in a nutshell consulting implies that you identify a problem that a client has and you propose a solution. Coaching is more about the facilitation of a process so that the clients can self help.

The analogy to sport is a good one and also helps us to understand the difference between consulting and coaching.

 

Imagine a tennis coach for instance. The coach talks to the athlete, shows the athlete where their skill levels are inadequate and then sets over a period of time a plan for the athlete to improve. The plan would enable the athlete to think for him or herself in pressure situations and determine the correct shot to play. This is called coaching.

 

If the coach on the other hand instructed the athlete to play a particular shot (rather than having the athlete decide on the best shot) or took the tennis racket and played a few sets for the athlete then this would be an extreme version of consulting.

 

Business Coaching is about collaboratively seeking a solution and formulating an action plan, looking at broader perspectives and helping develop processes for that business to proceed with. Consulting on the other hand is more defined around problem solving and the suggestion of specific solutions.
So what does this mean?

We should not concern ourselves with trying to define a label as to whether we are performing mentoring, consulting, coaching or facilitation. Our prime goal should be to make the client money.

In reality, the more business and consulting experience you have then the more that you will interplay multiple disciplines in the one assignment. You will both coach and at the same time steer your client toward a solution that from your experience you know is the best option. You may mentor and train.

 

At MAUS, our philosophy is to ignore the constraints of definitions and concentrate on the one thing that your client engaged you to do ....and that is to make your client money or improve their business.

 

We provide a framework of business tools that will help you to build your practice. You may start off in a consultative process of preparing a business plan for a client. We then teach you how to convert this consulting assignment into an ongoing coaching assignment by working with the senior managers on implementing their programs.

 

 

Passion – You know what you want and fervently go after it.

Confidence – You inspire and compel action.

Leadership – You possess the ability to guide your clients to success.

Independence – You are a self starter and ready to control your own destiny.

Dedication – You are committed to continual improvement of yourself and your clients.