Category: Newsletter

What is passion? We usually think of romantic passion, like we might see on the movie screen (or experience in our own lives). But it’s way bigger than that. Mr. Webster defines passion as “extreme, compelling emotion; intense emotional drive or excitement; the object of any strong desire or fondness.” I want to focus on two key words here – compelling and emotion. Passions are compelling; they move you forward in an almost irresistable manner. Once discovered, passions are nearly impossible to ignore. Passions also come from inside of you, not from the external world; they make your insides hum and vibrate with excitement and longing. They come from your heart, from your emotions, and not from your head (though they might engage your head). We can have passion for an infinite number of things – people, objects, ideas, processes (like learning or self-development).

Now stop for a moment ….. what are your passions? Don’t continue reading, just stop and reflect and feel your passions. Feel the vibration and humming of your passions. Feel the held-back energy. If you don’t yet know your passions, this is a great topic for journaling and exploring with your coach. How do you feel when you think about or partake in an activity that you’re passionate about? Pretty revved up, I would imagine! Notice how your body feels, how you are so much more excited and motivated when your passion is involved.

Your passion is solid energy, like rocket fuel – it will propel you toward your dreams. What are your passions related to your work? What are your dreams for the world, for your work in the world? What do you yearn for? What do you feel compelled to pursue? For your business to be successful, your passion must be engaged! If you’re not feeling passionate about your work, you’re headed for trouble! Spend some time and energy to discover your passions and how they weave into your work.

One of the reasons small businesses fail is that the entrepreneur is focused on a goal but has not engaged his/her passion. The natural enthusiasm and motivation around the goal will soon be overwhelmed by resentment (“why isn’t it happening faster?”) and internal saboteurs (“I’m not smart enough to start my own business.”) Your passion is like solar power: free, easily accessible, feels good and warm, and is a renewable energy source. Tap into it and use it! You may still have frustrations and internal saboteurs, but your passion will help you bypass them.

Your passion might be found in an aspect of your niche (like the clients you want to work with) or the impact of your work (changing the world for the better). What is it that gets you excited about your work? When your passion is engaged, the work and activities will flow much easier.

Please don’t confuse passion with goals. A goal might be “I want to make X dollars a year” or “I want to have a more flexible schedule.” You may feel very passionate about these, but they aren’t passions – they are goals, places that you want to get to. Passions don’t have a final destination, you can’t “achieve” a passion, but you can achieve a goal. See the difference? Both are vital and they work hand-in-hand! Although you can achieve goals without engaging your passion, it is harder to do. The key is to harness your passions in order to reach your goals. Another term that can get confused with passion is values. Again, they work hand-in-hand but aren’t the same.

Here is a metaphor I use to describe the difference between passion, values, and goals: Imagine that you’re in a sleek race car (representing your life or your work) on a track. Although the track has twists and turns and obstacles, you have a good idea of what’s at the finish line – this is your goal. You know that the specifics of the goal might change by the time you get there, but it’s what you are currently aiming for. To get to your goal, the gas tank of your car has been filled with high-test fuel; these are your passions. The fuel only needs to be ignited with the spark plug of inspiration and creativity and you will be speeding toward your goal. In addition, to help you stay on the track, there are guardrails along the sides of the roadway. These are your values; they keep you on your desired course. If you jump the guardrails and start driving on the grass, the ride will be bumpier, slower, and much less comfortable.

All three components – passion, goals, and values – work together to help you achieve a fulfilling life. This is true in our personal lives and our work lives. When work, or life, is feeling hollow and uninteresting, it is probably because you have lost touch with your passions, lost sight of your goals, and/or are driving “on the grass” and not honoring your values.

How does one become more aware of passions? Some are very obvious – look at how you spend your free time, the activities and people that you want to be in your life. Others are deep-seated and may be so much a part of your life that you don’t even consciously recognize them. One way to recognize passion is to observe your energy level. When your energy is high, typically your passions are engaged. Use your energy level as a compass toward your passions. Think back on experiences when you felt really alive and excited. What passions can you find in those experiences? They are there! And, of course, our passions shift and unfold during our entire life, so there are passions that you haven’t even discovered yet!

Fill your tank with the power of passion, and guided by your values you will zoom toward your goals! I totally believe that passion is a key ingredient in business success. Work without passion is just a job. Passion-based businesses are more rewarding, more enjoyable, more successful, and more fun!

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear about your own passions and how they have helped you achieve your goals. Count on me as part of your racing support team!

Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
[dorcas @ clarityinaction.com]

It’s September and the coolness of Fall is starting to sneak in around the edges here in Northern California.

Back to School for the kids…

How will you go “Back to School” in your own life this year?

Each year in September I lay out my own educational goals for the coming “school year” – the training I want to take, the areas I want to develop in myself, the growth I want to make happen in the next year. Unlike my college years, I am now in total control over my learning plan for the year! I find that taking the time to consciously (and proactively) think about my own personal development really helps me stay focused and consistently working toward my goals.

Often times our adult (ie non-college) education and training efforts unfold in a reactive or haphazard way – we get an email about an interesting workshop or see a notice in an ezine or posting. There is no real plan or strategy to the training / education, it just happens in a fairly random fashion.

Because of this, we don’t end up with a cohesive learning path, but rather a series of workshops and learning opportunities that end up filed away on our shelves and forgotten because we aren’t able to apply the learning in our day-to-day life.

Does this situation sound familiar? How many workshop or course binders do you have on your shelves, gathering dust? (I’m guilty of this too!) This is often the result of pursuing training / education without having a related goal that requires you to put it into action.

Please take a minute or two to think about this question: What do you want to be different about you, about your business, a year from now? Working backward from that end state, what learning or training do you need to make these goals a reality?

For example, let’s say that in a year you want 10 more clients in your business. Yea for you! Unfortunately, we can’t buy clients by the 6-pack at your local grocery store. So let’s look at your current toolbox and see what additions you might need.

• How effective are your client attraction skills?
• How clear and engaging is your brand?
• Are you clear about your niche, so you know who to focus on and how to best connect with them?
• Although there is no scientific research in this, I estimate that you need to talk to 10 (or more) people to get 1 potential coaching client. How will you get in front of 100+ people to find those 10 clients? Do you have a marketing plan that will help guide your activities so you can create these opportunities?

Let’s take another example. A year from now, maybe you want to be feeling more financially secure. What’s needed to make this happen?

• Let’s start at the beginning – what is your relationship to money? Is it a healthy, realistic relationship? Are you afraid of money? Feel a slave to it? How can you make your relationship with money one of health and abundance?
• Are you aware of your spending patterns and the beliefs you hold about money that may be causing you financial struggle?
• We all know that “diversification” is a good thing – do you have diverse (ie multiple) income streams to generate revenue for you? Do you know how to create those income streams?

Do you see how each of these goals has a learning / training component that may be crucial to your success? This is why I recommend spending time (30 minutes would be great) thinking about your own training and education needs for the coming 12 months.

The time you invest will be rewarded with a proactive strategy for your training that will help focus and motivate you. Then you can start actively looking for workshops, books, lectures, courses and other resources that will help you gain the knowledge for your success!

Warmest wishes for your growth during the coming school year!
Your partner in learning,
Dorcas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from ‘coaching skills’ to ‘coaching profession’
mailto:dorcask@clarityinaction.com
(408) 749-0614

Seasons Greetings! With the holidays upon us, and all the holiday parties and gatherings, there is no better time of year to brush up on your networking and social interaction skills! This is the busiest time of year for adult social interaction and you can make these events fruitful opportunities to build your contacts and network.

Do you feel excited about the holiday parties, or filled with dread? Often, we view social situations with some fear, and our gremlins are very willing to reinforce our negative thoughts. Do you have concerns about how to introduce yourself and your business, while also remaining authentic, enrolling and relaxed? You might think this combination is impossible to attain, but I assure you that it’s not!

Another gremlin you might have lurking around is that introverts aren’t any good at networking. This is completely false, and many studies have shown that extroverts and introverts can network equally well.

So what’s the magic secret? It’s deceptively simple – be a coach and be yourself! Sounds too easy, right? Well, here are some reasons why it is so simple.

Reason 1: One of the reasons why coaching is so powerful is that people rarely take time to focus on themselves and their dreams. As a coach, your job is to help people examine their lives, their dreams, and their challenges. One of your objectives is to help your client get enrolled in themselves and the potential in their lives. You don’t need to be in a formal coaching session to do this! You can easily create this same atmosphere of curiosity and support within a social situation.

Reason 2: It’s not possible to be someone or something you aren’t. No matter how hard you try, it will be clear that you are trying to be different than your authentic self. Over the years I’ve found that the most successful coaches are at peace with themselves, not acting or trying to be different from their authentic selves. This isn’t to say that they aren’t working on improving themselves but rather that they are comfortable being who they are, in that moment, warts and all. This leads to a deep sense of authenticity and connection – key factors to establishing a relationship.

Ok, I can hear you thinking – “Stop with this simplistic theory stuff – tell me what to do!” Before we get into the “doing” of networking, I’m going to give you two scenarios, and I’d like you to read them and decide which one might be more enrolling, and why. In these two examples I’m providing only the words of the coach as you can figure out the responses from the coach’s words.

Scenario A
I enter the room and approach a person.

• Hi, I haven’t been to this event before. My name’s Dorcas Kelley. What’s your name? Pleased to meet you Paul. What type of work do you do? Oh, you’re an XYZ! What do you enjoy most about your work? What is it about (an enjoyable aspect of job) that’s important to you? Where do you see yourself in 3 years? What would you like to be different? What’s needed to bring that change about? What do you see are the challenges you might face in making this happen? What’s one action you could take right now that will move you closer to your goal?
• Oh, what work do I do? I’m a business coach. I help entrepreneurs and business owners achieve their dreams. I’ve really enjoyed talking with you and I’d love to talk some more about your dream of (whatever the person’s dream or goal is). Would you like to have coffee or lunch sometime next week to talk about it some more?

Scenario B

I enter the room and approach a person.

• Hi, I haven’t been to this event before. My name’s Dorcas Kelley. What’s your name? Pleased to meet you Paul. What type of work do you do? Oh, you’re an XYZ! How long have you been doing that? How did you get into that line of work? What do you think about working for ABC company? Do you enjoy your work?
• Oh, what work do I do? I’m a business coach. I help entrepreneurs and business owners achieve their dreams. I’m a certified co-active coach and I’ve been coaching and consulting for nearly 20 years. My passion is to help you create the profession that you love and I’d be delighted to provide you with a complimentary coaching session. Would that be of interest to you?

So which scenario do you think is more effective and enrolling? (Answer: Scenario A)

What differences do you see between the two scenarios? There are many, and some of them are subtle. Here are a couple of critical ones:

• Scenario A asks thought-provoking questions that will stay with your conversation mate. Scenario B asks fairly superficial, light-conversation questions, and they don’t create much engaging dialogue. Because of the deeper nature of the questions in scenario A, it may feel a bit riskier and less comfortable for you but it will have a greater impact on your conversation mate. Go ahead – take the risk!

• Scenario A also asks very open-ended questions that cannot be answered with just a few words. The questions in scenario B can be answered quickly and easily, with little thought needed. This can lead to quickly running out of conversation and a level of disengagement.

• The objective, in scenario A, is to spark the other person so that they are thinking about their future and the possibilities they might find there. The objective is not for the coach to impart information about themselves or their coaching business. In scenario B, there is a “talking at” feeling instead of an “engaging with.” This is a subtle distinction, but one with a big impact. You want to engage your conversation mate, not in you but rather in themselves, and in looking at what is possible for them. Even just one or two thought-provoking questions can leave a strong, positive impression. Your conversation mate will remember you because you got them to think about themselves in a new way.

• Scenario A doesn’t include the typical 10 or 20-second commercial, also known as an “elevator speech.” These are useful typically when you are in a setting where you have 10 or 20 seconds to introduce yourself and your business to a group, and are less effective for use in a one-on-one conversation. All you need to do is introduce the concept that you are a coach, that you are interested in talking with them more, and give them a business card. Your conversation mate will have gotten a taste-test of coaching through your conversation, which is better than any commercial or elevator speech you could give.

• In scenario A, there is no offer of a “complimentary coaching session,” but rather for a subsequent cup of coffee or lunch to talk about their dream or goal. Just a friendly conversation with the objective of talking about them and their dreams. Who could refuse such an offer? Most people, being new to the concept of coaching, feel that the offer of a “free session” is like an offer for a free vacuum cleaner demonstration and sales pitch. Yuck! Offer them a chance to continue the conversation in a way that is ordinary, commonplace, easy to do, and non-threatening, with no special titles or words.

There are two other “words of wisdom” I want to impart. One is to truly be unattached to the outcome of the conversation. I don’t mean apathetic, but rather not invested in the person responding in a particular way. Not everyone is ready for coaching just because we talk to them about it. Their response has to do with them, and where they are at in their life, and is not a reflection of your value or worth or success as a coach. If you find yourself attaching significant meaning to their reaction (“Oh no, he’s not interested in having coffee with me. I must suck as a coach” “Darn, I guess I blew that one. I’ll never be successful.”) I strongly recommend that you work with your own coach to address these gremlins and shrink them down to a minimized size.

The second hint is to always be looking for how your conversation mate is inspirational. We know, in our hearts, that every person is inspiring. Often we may not see the inspiring aspects because we simply don’t look with the intent of being inspired. Once you assume that everyone you meet is inspirational, you will begin to see how this is true. You will see how they are inspiring and will, in turn, reflect their inspiration back at them, sparking their soul and giving them the greatest gift in the world – love and acknowledgement for themselves. Seek inspiration in each person, and you will find it!

So go forth into your holiday parties, be yourself, be a coach, “prepare to be inspired,” and take the risk to ask the deep questions. You will find that your conversations will be richer, and your new connections will be stronger and more meaningful. If you’d like additional information and exercises for improving your networking skills, I invite you to purchase my bookset, in which I have a whole chapter devoted to this topic.

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear about your own networking experiences and wisdom. How do these tips work for you? Inquiring minds want to know!

Best wishes for a relaxing and love-filled holiday season!
Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC

We are surrounded by big brands – Levi’s, McDonalds, Kleenex, Heinz Ketchup – they are all around us. How do we, as coaches, benefit from having a brand? Is it possible to create brand without spending lots of money?

In this article, we’ll talk about brands and how to create one that authentically represents you!

First, let’s examine what a brand is. Contrary to popular belief, a brand is much more than a logo and a tagline. David McNally and Karl Speak, in their book “Be Your Own Brand,” provide one of the best (and meaty) definitions of brand I’ve come across:

“A brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by a buyer or prospective buyer, describing the experience related to doing business with an organization or consuming its products or services.”

In other words, a brand is something felt by your clients or potential clients, and they feel it when they work or talk with you. A brand doesn’t require fancy logos or slick marketing materials or lots of advertising. Instead, it’s the lasting and consistent impact of how you are being when you are in relationship with others; it’s the mental and emotional “image” they have of you during and after your interaction. You can develop a strong brand without spending a penny!

So how can a coach benefit from having a brand? Stop and consider a brand that you feel positive about – perhaps your Toyota Camry, your Hewlett-Packard printer, or your Lands End sweater. If you think about just the brand (and not the specific product) I imagine that positive words and feelings will come to your mind. Reliable, comfortable, easy to use, well made, good quality – these might be your perception of that brand. Here is one of the benefits of branding: you, as a consumer, associate positive thoughts and perceptions with the brand, and so all the various products offered under that brand are viewed in a similarly positive fashion. Experiences with one brand’s product will “rub off” onto other products of the same brand. (Be aware that this works with both positive and negative experiences.)

You might be thinking “But I’m not ketchup nor a sweater nor a car. How can I brand my services?” As coaches, we provide personal services that require a high level of trust and vulnerability and personal chemistry. Your coaching services can’t be separated from who you are since you are a major part of the services. Therefore, the simple fact is that YOU are your brand. Once you get clear on your personal brand, your services will be branded as well.

It’s important to realize that we are subconsciously branded whenever we meet or talk with someone. Be honest. How many times have you met or talked with someone and walked away with some type of emotional reaction or impression or judgement? It happens all the time; it’s part of being human! So why not use this natural tendency to your advantage? Instead of letting chance decide how people feel about an interaction with you, take steps to positively shape their perceptions and feelings. That is the core of how a brand works – being consciously proactive about clearly and consistently communicating your uniqueness and value, and thereby influencing how you’re perceived and remembered.

Strong brands begin when your clients and potential clients trust you, like you, remember you, value you, and relate to you. So how is a brand different than being a nice person? The added ingredient in a strong brand is the clear and consistent identification and communication of the qualities or characteristics that distinguish you from everyone else. A brand helps your clients and potential clients more easily “classify” you in their mental Rolodex (yet another brand!)

Below are three broad steps to create your own personal brand:

1. Create an inventory of the unique characteristics relevant to your coaching niche.Look closely at yourself and determine what sets you apart from other coaches – your values, passions, personality traits, experiences, and areas of expertise, to name a few. Uncover those attributes that you might have taken for granted or not previously recognized. Examples include: honesty, connection, respect, humor, creative, physical action, intelligent, vibrant, organized, energetic, compassionate.
2. Select those attributes that are both relevant to your niche and that also represent your true essence. It really helps to have friends, colleagues, clients, and family help you with this step by asking them to share what they see as your essence, your core being. Ask them to describe you in four to six words. What attributes do they see as your core characteristics? You will see patterns in the feedback that will help point you toward your essence.
3. Choose six to eight of these essence words that really represent who you are.(Note: not who you want to be, or “should” be, but who you really are.) Using those words, craft a personal branding statement. How would you succinctly describe yourself and your value to the world? Remember, you aren’t describing your services, or your niche, but you. Keep working until you’ve developed a statement that reflects who you are, how you want to be and be seen, and the value you bring to your clients. Here’s an example: “I’m a seasoned entrepreneur and compassionate partner who brings clarity, humor, and creative intelligence to help calm the whirlwind of your life.” This branding statement is the foundation for your brand.

Armed with your branding statement, you can put it to work in a variety of ways.

First, and most important, put it to work in your heart and thoughts by really owning your essence words and statement. Step fully into that place and be your essence more fully.

Second, in your words and behavior, by being able to easily talk about your brand, your essence, and your value. I’m not talking about your elevator speech here (which is focused on your services), but rather on how you talk about yourself, how you act, and your impact on the world.

Third, in your business vision. Does your brand integrate easily with your vision? Do they complement and support each other? If not, revisit both elements to create a compelling business vision that works well with your personal brand.

Lastly, in your marketing materials. Although this is what most people think of first, it’s the final step, not the first. You may want to incorporate a logo or image or tagline into your marketing materials to further support and strengthen your brand. Be aware that this step is icing on the cake. Without the brand being firmly present in your heart, thoughts, words, behavior, and business vision, the overall impact of the brand will be minimized.

The secret to a successful brand includes the following key elements:

• It is relevant to your target audience (your niche)
• The brand message is clear and easy to grasp
• It is consistently communicated in a variety of ways (including your behavior and words and being, as well as your various marketing materials)

So without spending a penny, you can develop and put in action a brand that will strengthen your position in the market and help you be more positively memorable in your client’s and potential client’s mind. Remember that branding is more about how you are being and your impact on those around you, and less about your marketing materials.

If you want additional information and exercises for creating your own brand, I invite you to purchase my bookset, in which I have a whole chapter devoted to developing a brand for you and your coaching business.

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear about your brand, how you developed it, and how you’re putting it to work for you!

Wishing you a fun with your branding efforts!
Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
dorcask@clarityinaction.com

For many self-employed folks, March and April are dreaded months because they bring that dreaded task – taxes. For me, I have a happy March and April because I am always on the lookout for ways to legally minimize my taxes. I feel excitement and pride whenever I discover a new deduction. Not that I want to cheat the government, but I do want to pay as little taxes as possible. Did you know that we actually have a legal right and responsibility to ensure that we are not overpaying our taxes? It’s true!

So I’d like to share with you some of the ways I’ve discovered to keep my taxes to a minimum. These tips aren’t in any specific order, and some may not apply to your specific situation. As always, if you have specific questions or concerns, be sure to ask your accountant or tax preparer.

Automobile expenses are often overlooked and under-reported. Did you know that each time you take a trip to your local office supply store, bookstore, client site, networking location, airport, or other business-related errand, that you are on a business trip? Even if you happen to stop at the grocery store and dry-cleaner along the way, all those miles count as business miles. It really pays to keep track of them! I’ve been able to consistently write off 70-90% of my auto-related expenses each year by taking just a few seconds in the car to log the business miles. If you don’t know the exact number of miles you traveled within one trip, check it out on MapQuest or similar Internet site.

Make sure to keep a written log of the mileage.You can deduct either a portion of your actual annual expenses (gas, oil changes, maintenance, insurance, new tires, car washes, etc.) with the portion being determined by the number of annual business miles you drive divided by the annual total number of miles you drive. Or, you can deduct a certain amount per business mile. Check the IRS website (www.irs.gov) to learn the current deductible amount. The miles can really add up!

Training expenses: Any type of training you take to help you maintain or improve yourself as a coach and/or as a business owner is deductible. Included in this are any conferences, seminars, workshops, and tradeshows that you attend that are related in some way to either coaching or business. Do remember that as you become a more developed person, you also become a better coach. What activities do you do that help you develop as a person? These activities may bring you additional deductions that you wouldn’t normally consider.

Your own coach. If the coaching you receive includes discussion/coaching about your business, and/or you as a coach, it is a legitimate business deduction. Do make sure to get receipts for your payments.

Any books or periodicals or subscriptions (including online) from which you get coaching or business information. This can include magazines such as O or Health that have a portion dedicated to self-development topics, or can include your local newspaper if there are articles or features about being a small business owner in your region.

Your retirement savings. Any deposits you put into a retirement account (SEP-IRA or Keogh or similar) are deductible. Remember that you have until April 15 to deposit funds that will count toward your previous year’s taxes! This deduction not only saves you taxes, it also helps build your retirement funds. Even if you only save $250 a year towards retirement, it’s a hugely beneficial savings!

Business gifts, for clients, potential clients and colleagues. There is an annual limit of $25 per recipient. Keep receipts for those holiday and birthday gifts!

You can now deduct 100% of your medical, dental, and qualified long-term careinsurance. However, this deduction is not available if you are on your spouse/partner’s plan through their employer. But if you have to arrange for your own personal insurance coverage, it’s now fully deductible! (Any type of business insurance is of course deductible too.)

Do you have a credit card that you use exclusively for business? If so, any annual fee or interest fees are deductible as a business expense. This holds true for any fees associated with a bank account that you use solely for your business.

Do you mail out your invoices or notices? Don’t forget to deduct the cost for the materials(paper, ink, toner, envelopes, etc.) as well as the postage. In fact, all of the office supplies used in your business are deductible.

You might be eligible for a home office deduction if there is a space in your home or apartment that you use regularly and exclusively for business. This deduction would allow you to write off a portion of your utilities, rent, mortgage, house insurance and upkeep. But the deduction also has some implications for when you sell/leave your home and can get a little tricky, so make sure to read up on the implications.

Charges for online services such as email, website hosting, and your internet service provider.

Bought a new PC or Palm Pilot or printer or phone system or cell phone or otherelectronic equipment or gadget lately? If so, estimate the percent of time it is used for business purposes. If it’s over 50%, you can write off that portion of the cost and any upkeep.

Speaking of phones. You cannot write off the basic monthly charge for your home phone, since the IRS assumes that you would have a home phone even if you did not have a business (an accurate assumption I think). However, you can write off any business related calls you make from your home phone. Or, if you have a cell phone that you use primarily for business, you can write off that expense. Or, if you have a dedicated business line, you can write off that entire expense.

A hint to locating what other deductions might exist in your world is to ask yourself “What would I NOT do if I didn’t have my business?” The expenses for those things are probably deductions (though, unfortunately, child care is still not considered a business expense).

Please remember to collect receipts for your deductions. You are required to have receipts or some form of formal written documentation for any expense of $25 or over, and you may want to get into the habit of saving all business related receipts, regardless of the dollar amount.

What new deductions can you discover in your world? I’d love to hear about them, so please send me an email with your ideas and questions!

Wishing you a very happy March and April, along with many newly discovered deductions!

Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from ‘coaching skills’ to ‘coaching profession’ dorcask@clarityinaction.com

Partnering (or collaborating or teaming up – whichever phrase you use) is increasingly common and potentially beneficial for all involved. I get notices for co-led workshops, alliances of business coaches, cross-referrals, joint ventures, subcontract situations and other types of partnering arrangements. As coaches, one of our foundational skills is to collaborate with our clients to help them achieve their goals. So it seems natural that we would desire collaboration in other aspects of our work as well.

What makes these types of arrangements so beneficial?
And what are the “secrets” to a successful partner arrangement?

In recent years I’ve been involved in two substantial collaborations – one that continues to be fun, productive and supportive, and another that ended in a painful mess. So this topic has been of special interest to me and I hope to share some of my learning and observations with you.

Many of the benefits of partnering are self-evident, but I want to quickly review some of them here. Working with others allows you to potentially provide more services to more people in a more effective fashion. In other words – broaden and deepen your impact on the world (and, in theory, also bring you more revenue). In addition, collaboration often results in a superior product or service than either of you could have created on your own, a case where the sum is greater than the parts. Partnering can also help balance the workload across complementary skills (and schedules), while also expanding your reach into new markets or new geographies. Lastly, collaborating with others can be more fun, interesting, creative and rewarding than working on our own. We are social animals and working in isolation can quickly lead to burnout, loss of motivation, and depression.

So what’s not to like about partnering – it’s clearly a great thing! But, if it’s so wonderful, why doesn’t everyone collaborate all the time? I believe that there are three answers to this simple question:
1. Partnering is not the best choice for all situations. Some jobs are best suited to one person (like individual coaching).
2. Many folks are not built to be good partners
3. Finding a good business partner can be as hard (or harder) than finding a good life mate!

The rate of partnership failure is very high, between 70-90% (depending on what statistics you read), and this is looking just at formal, legal partnerships and not the informal partnerships and collaborations that are so common in our changing economy.

Why do some collaborations work smoothly and others fall apart?

I got curious and started to examine my own experiences and also ask others who have been in collaborations and partnerships (successful or not). My investigation provided me with:

12 Tips for Building Successful Collaborations

1. First, and perhaps most important, be clear about why you want to collaborate. What do you hope that the collaboration will bring to you? Understand if your motivation is to work with complementary skills, or access to a new market, or assistance with the details, or support and companionship, or some other benefit. Without this clarity, your collaboration will be confusing from the start.

2. Be willing to take your time, go slow, and let the partnership evolve. Just like with dating, it’s never wise to jump in without checking each other out first. Work on small, low risk projects together first to see if you are compatible. During this time, take time to really connect with each other.

3. Explicitly look at how your work styles and personalities are different. Neither is good nor bad, just different. Know how you are different and how you are similar. Can you tolerate the differences? Or, perhaps you are so similar that you will end up reinforcing each others’ areas of weakness.

4. Look especially at your values and expectations around work. Do you have similar concepts of what is an acceptable quality of work? Explore your expectations regarding acceptable level of customer service, ethics and professionalism in communication, dress, interactions, and behavior.

5. Talk about priorities in your life. How many hours a week do you want to work together on this project? Be honest and realistic about what else is going on in your life and how much time and energy you have to devote to this collaboration.

6. Look at where your skills and interests are different. Is one of you more detail oriented? Does one of you enjoy strategy? Do your skills complement or overlap each other? You need to assemble a “team” that will handle both the strategy and the details, the fun and the mundane, the sales / marketing and the administration. Where do your natural inclinations lie? If you both dislike handling “the details,” then know up front that you will need to hire someone who can handle them for you. If you both resist enrollment and marketing then you’ll need to figure out how to handle this critical area.

7. Talk about what works and doesn’t work for you – jointly design your alliance of how you want to work together and how you want to be treated by your partner. Where are your boundaries – are you more of an arms-length, private person or someone who dives in fast and deep?

8. Is your partner willing and able to talk about his/her feelings and ideas easily? If not, how will you handle the situation where your partner is upset or angry but unable to discuss what’s happening. (BTW, relationship coaching can be of great benefit in this situation.)

9. Talk about the marketing of your product and service. Will each of you receive equal visibility, or will one of you take the “lead” role? How will you jointly handle the tasks of marketing and enrollment?

10. Talk about ownership of the final product you are producing – whether it’s a workshop or a retreat or other product or service. What will each of you be able to do with the product on your own, after the work is complete? Make sure to document this agreement.

11. How will you share expenses and revenue? Again, make sure to document this agreement.

12. Underlying all of these items is the need to communicate – communicate – communicate! For your partnership to work well, you each need to be able to talk about what’s going on in an open and respectful fashion, and to be heard by your partner. I’m not suggesting that you need to be perfect (none of us are) but it is vital that you are each able to hear each other objectively and talk it through respectfully when you tweak each other (guaranteed that will happen at some point)

I want to add in two other guidelines:

• Being good friends (or romantic partners) doesn’t mean that you will be good business partners. What brings you together as friends or lovers may not lay a solid foundation for working together. You may be very compatible with someone in a social or romantic relationship and totally incompatible in your work styles. I recommend that you become even more careful, and slow-paced, in pursuing a partnership with a friend or lover.
• It’s important to acknowledge that some people are not good partner material. This is not meant as a judgement but rather an observation. Just as everyone is not cut out to be coaches or firemen or teachers, not everyone is built to be good collaborators and business partners. You may know some folks like this already – someone who has tried to partner several times without success, who has difficulty creating successful collaborative relationships, perhaps someone who has the same difficulty in their personal/romantic life. I suggest that you look honestly at yourself, and your potential partner, to see if there has been a pattern that might suggest that collaboration is not a realistic option.

I wish you many fulfilling and joy-filled collaborations in your life and work. I’d love to hear you own collaboration stories – whether happy or sad.

Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from ‘coaching skills’ to ‘coaching profession’
dorcask@clarityinaction.com

Three of the most common questions I’m asked are: How do I effectively market myself as a coach? How do I enroll clients? And what is this thing called “branding” anyway?

First, let’s provide a definition for the elusive term of “marketing.” Bottomline,marketing refers to how your business shows up in the world. Sounds simple, eh? Yes, it is a simple concept and it’s also such a broad term that it can feel a bit overwhelming.

Marketing is actually an “umbrella term,” meaning that it includes several categories of concepts and activities such as enrollment and sales, marketing materials, branding, advertising, pricing, your interaction with others, referral sources and – most importantly – how you energetically hold and present yourself. Wow! What a mouthful! Hopefully you can see that there are many places to play in the world of marketing.

In fact, just recognizing that marketing has several distinct but inter-related categories is an important first step to an effective marketing plan. The more you can coordinate and integrate your various marketing activities, the bigger the impact you’ll have. This doesn’t mean that you can’t start marketing until you have it all complete and “perfect.” No, just the opposite! Start with what you have now and build from there. Marketing is a process, and it will evolve and grow over time.

My recommendation is to start with what’s inside of you. In other words, don’t spend time fussing over your business cards or external things. Instead focus on how you want to be with potential clients and referral sources – the impact you have, how you relate to others, the impression you leave behind. You are the core of your marketing – really!

There are two areas in marketing that are very rooted in who you are and how you be – enrollment and branding. I’ll touch briefly on each to give you some initial direction.

Enrollment is the art and skill of engaging and/or inspiring someone in a possibility for their lives. Enrollment is an advanced coaching skill. When practiced effectively, it can be the determining factor between having a fun-filled, thriving business and one that is full of angst and slow growth. Practicing enrollment effectively requires a level of sophistication that can be learned. Although enrollment is an art, rather than a science, we can still learn the distinguishing features, unlearn our disabling beliefs, and evolve a powerful presence that brings enrollment into our conversations.

One of the key skills in enrollment is to be authentically interested in the other person. When you are truly interested in the person you’re talking with they will sense it and want to continue the conversation. Then if you can effectively make the link between what they want in their lives and what you have to offer – bingo, that’s enrollment at it’s best – no gimmicks, no manipulation, just great coaching skills. Practice sharing what you’re passionate about with others. Then, when it comes to speaking about coaching, you’ll be more confident in sharing this subject too.

As you gain experience in enrolling and working with clients, you can ask for feedback on your coaching style and unique contribution. Then you’ll be ready to venture into the land of branding.

Usually the word branding brings up images of well-known product brands such as Nike, Levi’s, and Volvo. However, let’s look at the world of personal brands. What comes to mind when you think about Oprah? Donald Trump? Howard Stern? Could you confuse these three people with each other? No way! Each of these people has very distinct personal styles. Although you may not recognize this as branding – it is!

What makes these brands so recognizable? No, it’s not the hair (though that is part of it). It’s the magic ingredients of clarity, consistency, and integration.

When you see Oprah – regardless of the situation – there is a clarity and consistency to her brand. There is a distinct “Oprah-ness” to her. Whatever words you might choose to describe her, they will be there each time you experience her. Plus, that “Oprah-ness” feel is found in many places – her looks, the graphics in her magazine, her choice of words and subjects. This is what makes her (and Donald and Howard and many other well-known figures) so memorable – the hallmark of an excellent brand.

So how can we, as coaches, use with this concept? No, I’m not suggesting that you emulate Howard Stern! Instead, I recommend that you focus on the magic ingredients – clarity, consistency, and integration.

For example, how clear are you about what unique value you bring to your coaching relationships? What are your own unique characteristics? Through self-exploration and focused attention (I recommend my class “Creating Your Unique Brand.”) you will gain insight into the answers to these questions. Then look at how clearly and consistently you convey this to your potential clients and referral sources.

The next step is to get feedback from clients, friends, family, and colleagues about how you are currently perceived. This allows you to become more aware of your desired impact contrasted with your actual impact. When you’re able to align those two, you’ve got an effective brand!

Regardless of where you begin your journey, keep the three golden rules in mind:

• There is no such thing as “perfect” so don’t expect to create it.
• Nothing is set in concrete, so start with what you have now and build from there.
• Work from the inside out – the clearer you are about yourself, the easier the rest of it will be.

I look forward to helping you travel the roads of marketing!

With love and gratitude,
Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from ‘coaching skills’ to ‘coaching profession’
dorcask@clarityinaction.com

The whole area of professional / business insurance can be somewhat confusing and the terminology can be confusing as well. On top of that, many people use some terms interchangeably (incorrectly) which adds to the confusion.

Let’s see if I can provide some clarity about the different types of business insurance and what they are used for. I’m not an insurance agent but I’ve run my own business for 15 years, written a book and teach classes on business start-up and I consult and coach with entrepreneurs of all types, so this is an area that I feel very familiar with.

There are three primary categories of business insurance:

• Commercial auto insurance – a must if you have delivery van or are regularly (daily, weekly) driving around clients
• Commercial property insurance – to protect your business assets such as your computer, phone, books. You can typically get an inexpensive “rider” onto your homeowners or renters policy for any additional equipment or property you have for your business.
• Commercial (or business or professional) liability insurance – this is the most confusing category, so the rest of this article will be devoted to this kind of insurance.

There are two primary types of professional / business liability insurance: “General Business Liability” and “Professional Liability.”

These two types of insurance cover VERY different events and have big differences in price tags. So it’s important to be clear with yourself and your client which one you want to carry and they want you to have. They are not inter-changeable.

(Side note: I’ve found that often the clients are confused as well about what kind of insurance they’re asking for, so as you become more knowledgeable you can explain the difference to them. I’ve had several client companies say that they want “professional liability” and when I talked with them it turned out that what they really wanted was “general liability.” So, don’t assume that when a company asks for a type of insurance that they are really clear on what that insurance is for. Ask questions and find out what kind of event are they wanting insurance for – more about this below.)

General Business Liability Insurance is sometimes called “trip and fall” insurance as it is most often used for that purpose. This insurance covers accidents – events that typically aren’t directly related to the type of work you’re doing. This is a fairly inexpensive type of business insurance, often part of a small business insurance package that covers physical damage or injury or libel / slander.

Example events that would use this kind of insurance: you drop a flip chart on someone’s toe, break a piece of equipment, someone trips and falls at a workshop you are leading, etc. I get my small business policy through State Farm for ~$500 a year with a $2m general business liability umbrella. General Liability small business packages are available through many insurance companies. I strongly recommend that you have this type of basic business insurance whenever you are doing any type of in-person work with clients (including your own workshops or just in-person coaching sessions). If all of your work is strictly over the phone, you don’t need this type of insurance.

Professional Liability Insurance (often called Errors & Omissions Insurance or E&O), on the other hand, is a very different type of insurance. This type of policy insures the quality of your work and that the deliverable you produce is of high quality, comprehensive, and reliable. In the medical world, this type of insurance is called malpractice insurance. In the services world, it’s called Professional Liability Insurance or Errors & Omissions Insurance (ie it insures that there won’t be any errors or omissions). This type of insurance is very expensive, at least for a solo professional. The lowest cost in California is $2K a year and that is with very high deductibles and lots of waivers and exemptions. The cost varies tremendously based on the type of work you are doing, $2K is just the cheapest. Many insurance companies will not provide Professional Liability / E&O insurance for solo-preneurs or home-based businesses, and some insurance companies won’t insure coaches because they equate coaching with therapy.

Hopefully you can see that these two types of insurance are very different in nature (and cost) and cover very different situations.

It’s been my experience that companies may use the term “professional liability insurance” and actually mean “General Business Liability Insurance”. Contracts are developed by corporate lawyers, and not insurance experts. Companies want to make sure that you have some kind of business insurance (in case you break something or injure someone) and they also don’t realize that the term “professional liability insurance” actually refers to E&O insurance.

So if your client / client company requires “professional liability insurance” make sure to ask them what type of event or situation are they hoping to insure against. Is it in case someone gets physically hurt or something broken? Or is it the quality of my work? (If they say “quality of my work” ask them how they would judge the quality of your coaching. What specific outcomes are they looking for?) My guess is that 9 times out of 10 the answer you’ll receive back will be along the lines of General Business Liability Insurance.

I’ve run my own business for 15 years and coached at the C-Suite level in several Fortune 500 companies and I have never had to get Professional Liability insurance, only General Liability. However I know that there are companies who require E&O for coaches working with Executives and upper management.

Ask yourself – are you really doing the type of work that could have a direct material impact on the company’s financial and/or legal standing? That is often the test to determine if E&O is needed. E&O is very common for lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, and legal advisors. Also, to have E&O you need to be clear with your client about what is defined as “high quality” coaching vs. coaching which is in “error.” This is a great question to discuss with your client if they want you to have E&O. It’s important to remind the client that one of the cores of coaching is that the client makes the decisions of what actions to take in a coaching relationship, not the coach.

Please keep in mind that the client’s contract template isn’t written in concrete. If there is something in it that you don’t agree with, ask about it and state your case. Even if the client says they want Professional Liability Insurance, ask yourself if you feel that it is warranted. If not, push back and tell them why it’s not warranted.

Also, I want to make sure that you know that any kind of personal liability insurance (say homeowners, renters, or a personal liability umbrella policy) will NOT cover you in a business situation! The exclusions in personal insurance contracts are very clear – personal insurance only covers you when you are on personal time, not working time. Should anything ever happen, one of the first questions the insurance representative will ask is “What were you doing here?” or “What was going on when this happened?” If they feel that you were engaged in work, they will quickly dismiss your claim. I’ve heard too many horror stories of folks thinking they were covered during business events by their personal insurance only to discover that wasn’t the case. Please don’t make this mistake.

I hope this has helped clarify a potentially confusing subject. Although I hope that you will never need to fill an insurance claim, I also want to make sure that you have the right insurance should you ever need it. Best wishes for the success of your company!
Dorcas Kelley

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Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from “coaching skills” to “coaching profession”
(408) 749-0614
mailto:dorcask@clarityinaction.com
Author – “The Business of Coaching” (http://www.thebusinessofcoaching.com)
President – Clarity In Action LLC (http://www.clarityinaction.com)
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Many of the entrepreneurs I’ve worked with feel that attracting clients is a mysterious process that’s based in luck, genetics, and wishful thinking. Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but most of my clients and students do shrug their shoulders and throw up their hands in bafflement when pondering client attraction – can you relate to that feeling?

What I’ve found is that attracting clients is actually a definable, repeatable process that uses basic skills that can be developed and honed. It’s not a mysterious miracle.

It’s true that attracting clients is both an art and a science. Much of the art comes with practice and mastery, when you’re able to attract clients with little conscious effort. That’s why those coaches who appear to be natural attractors often can’t clearly describe what they do or how they do it – it’s the water that they swim in. However, no one starts at that level of art and mastery! And that’s where the “science” of attracting clients is so valuable since it provides the foundation – the process, the skills, the preparation.

So what’s the basic concept of client attraction? I feel that it’s the same basic concept for living a powerful life, and it comes in 3 small words: Think – Be – Do. These 3 small words, in that order, are what shapes our world, our work, our relationships, our success, and our reality. We are thinking, being, doing all the time and most of the time we are unaware of what we are thinking, how we are being, and often what we are doing.

I believe that the core of client attraction is based in our thoughts and their close cousin, our beliefs. It’s probably not news to you that our thoughts and beliefs have a huge impact on our lives. We’ve all worked with clients who have major obstacles in the form of internal gremlins or saboteurs that keep them small and stuck. These internal voices – sometimes critical and pessimistic, but often using the disguise of being “realistic” or “practical” for our own good – are nothing more than the negative and constraining side of our thoughts and beliefs. Although we are coaches, we certainly aren’t immune to those voices, though hopefully we are more aware of them.

Take a good look inside to see what your own thoughts or beliefs are around client attraction. Perhaps you think that you can’t connect with people because you’re introverted, or that you have to be manipulative and pushy to get clients. Maybe you believe that the area of marketing and client attraction is “difficult” or “sleazy.” If these are examples of the thoughts and beliefs that you hold, recognize that these thoughts and beliefs are the core of the reality you’re actively creating.

With thoughts like these in your head, how might you show up in your interactions with potential clients and referral sources? If you’re holding the thought of “difficult” or “inauthentic” or “I’m sure they won’t be interested” in your head, guess how you’ll show up! Recognize that your thoughts and beliefs are the source of how you “be” (your energetic impact on others) and how you show up in your interactions and activities.

Once you are more aware of your thoughts and beliefs (and recognize how much they drive you) and more adept at choosing which thoughts and beliefs you want to empower and which you want to discard, many of your perceived client attraction obstacles will fall away. I realize that this is easy to say and more challenging to do, but it actually does work with practice. Successful client attraction does not require that you be extroverted or sophisticated, nor does it require any kind of manipulation or pushiness. Actually, being inauthentic or manipulative are sure ways to fail at attracting clients.

What I’ve found is that most coaches tend to focus on the “doing” of client attraction– the various activities or tasks to become more visible to your potential clients and referral sources. In a way, this focus on the “doing” portion of Think – Be – Do is understandable, since we can only see and witness what others are doing, and not what they are thinking.

I believe that this emphasis on the “doing” is like focusing on the cart, rather than the horse. If you haven’t spent time clearing up and refining your thoughts and beliefs, you could go to any activity and probably not be successful. Conversely, if your thoughts, beliefs and way of being are clear and aligned and empowered, you don’t need to “do” any one thing in particular to attract clients.

I don’t want to imply that the “doing” aspect of client attraction isn’t important, or that there’s nothing more to client attraction than thoughts and beliefs. Client attraction requires all 3 components of Think –Be – Do and they are equally important. In addition, each of the 3 components have multiple sub-steps that improve overall success.

It’s an added bonus that the client attraction process is an easily understandable and repeatable process. A very simple description of the process is that it starts with your thoughts and beliefs, and then travels into how you “show up” in the conversation (both energetically and physically), what you say and how you say it, what you focus on (both internally and externally), how you perceive the other person, and how you end the conversation. The client attraction process actually starts long before you arrive at an event and ends long after you leave. Recognizing all of the steps of the process is a key move toward greater success.

There are also skills and components of attraction that can be recognized and developed through experimentation and practice, helping you move toward your own level of artistry and mastery.

With passion for your success,

Dorcas Kelley CPCC CMC PCC
Helping you make the leap from “coaching skills” to “coaching profession”
(408) 749-0614