When you build a house, the most important first step is building the foundation. It needs to be solid because it supports the rest of the house. 

The same thing applies to your coaching business. Without a solid foundation, your business will crumble and fall.

This article outlines one of the key foundational pieces to a successful six-figure coaching practice. Here it is:

In order to have a successful coaching business, you need to think like a business.

Over the last few years, we have talked to thousands of coaches of varying degrees of success. Some are making 6-figure incomes, others are just starting out, and some have been coaching for years and are barely getting by. Time and time again, the main factor that distinguishes the successful coaches from the struggling coaches is that they think about their coaching as a business.

What does it mean to think like a business? What does it mean to have a business mindset?

Here are four different business mindset shifts that can support your business for big growth.

Business Mindset #1: Be a professional

Hiring a coach is a big decision for a client. It’s not an impulse purchase like buying a bag of potato chips. When prospective clients seek out a coach, they want someone they can trust with their most personal details. Someone who conducts themselves like a professional.

The best coaches instill confidence in their clients in a number of big and small ways:

• Their voicemail message is upbeat, clear, and concise (and not some rambling family voicemail message, “Hi you’ve reached the McFred household…”)

• When they answer the phone they introduce themselves like a professional (i.e. Hello, this is Fred McFred. Thanks for calling. How can I help you?)

• They double and triple check anything they write to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes

• They have professional training and credentials

Check in with yourself. Are you being as professional as you can be? How many potential clients skipped right past you because of a typo on your bio? How many potential clients hung up the phone when you answered “what, who is it?”

Business Mindset #2: Stop thinking like an employee

When you are an employee, you trade your time for a steady pay cheque. You show up, do your job, and leave at the end of the day. That’s it. 

When you go out on your own, don’t think that suddenly you are going to charge $100 per hour and double or triple your income. You need to do your job (i.e. the coaching), do everything else that goes with running a business, and take on more risk. That’s why you charge more. First you need to accept that and then embrace it. You are now building something that is bigger than you. Put motivational stickies on the wall, hire a business coach, and/or schedule the business building activities into your calendar.

However you do it, you need to make it happen. You’re the business owner now!

Business Mindset #3: Be okay with spending money

Stop being such a cheapskate. In order to make money, you need to spend money.

Yes, where possible, cut corners to save cash but don’t cut spending at the expense of future income. Here are just some of the things you may need to spend your money on:

• A dedicated phone line

• A website

• A professional headshot

• Business cards

• Leads, wherever you can get them, like (uh hum) a paid membership on Noomii

Most coaches spend many thousands of dollars on coach training and then have little left to build their businesses. You can hustle and operate on a tight budget but you still need a budget (i.e. some allocated funds to invest in the growth of your business).

Business Mindset #4: Take on an experimental point of view

When you get into business, you’re going to try stuff and sometimes it’s going to fail. The best coaches stick it out and constantly evolve their marketing message, how they deliver their service, and what their company stands for.

In some cases the shifts that coaches make are huge (i.e. going from coaching executives to coaching single moms) and other times they are more subtle. Either way, in order to survive the best coaches accept that they may not get it right the first time. They experiment, learn from it, make adjustments, and experiment again. They keep what works and toss out the rest. You can too.

Any others?

What have I missed? Are there any other mindset shifts that lead to amazing business results? Leave your comments below.