Have you been dreaming of becoming a coach and starting a business of your own? But every time you go to take action, your mind whirls through all the “what if’s” and suddenly you feel frozen by doubts, resistance, and fear?
- Fear of uncertainty. This is a new path, after all.
- Fear of failure. Will this work? What if it doesn’t work?
- Fear of struggling with your finances. Fear of not earning enough money. Perhaps even fear of investing money into something new and unknown.
- Fear of judgment and what other people will think.
- Fear of marketing yourself
- And many more, like [insert your specific fear here]
One of the biggest fears of all? That niggling worry of “am I enough?”. Am I enough to be a coach? Am I enough to be a business owner? Am I enough to forge my own career path? This lack of self-belief is something everyone struggles with at some point on their way to entrepreneurship.
TOOLS TO OVERCOME FEAR
Real talk: To succeed as a coach, you need to believe that you can transition and do something different.
As Glen Murdoch, Founder and CEO of The Life Coaching College, explains, “There are always going to be challenges that come up — that’s part of building a business! Your job is to get to the point where you are so confident and committed that you will be able to find a way through, over, or under any obstacle that comes up.”
Yes, you need to make sure you choose a great Life Coaching course — but beyond that, the only thing that will ever truly get in your way of building your business is the person in the mirror.
You have the power to stop letting fear take over and to make change happen. Nobody else can do it for you. So, here are some practical tools to help you do exactly that.
#1 POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
They might sound humble, but affirmations are powerful (and proven) methods of self-improvement because of their ability to rewire our brains and beliefs. Much like exercise, they raise the level of feel-good hormones in our body and push our brains to form new clusters of “positive thought” neurons.
So affirmations can play an integral role in creating positive thinking patterns, positive speech, and positive actions as you start a coaching business.
Some examples we love:
- I am the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents
- I have been given endless talents which I begin to utilise today
- I have the power to create change in my life
- I am in charge of my life, and no one will dictate my path except me
#2 SURROUND YOURSELF WITH STRONG SUPPORT SYSTEMS
The people you spend the most time with shape who you are, influence your decisions and impact how you show up in your life. They determine what conversations dominate your attention. They affect what attitudes and behaviours you are regularly exposed to. And eventually, you start to think as they think and behave as they behave!
As Darren Hardy writes in The Compound Effect: “According to research, the people you habitually associate with determines as much as 95% of your success or failure in life.” Crazy, right? Clearly, who you surround yourself with matters.
When you’re starting a coaching business, or you encounter any obstacles along the way, you need the right people around you to support you, model positive behaviours, encourage your self-belief, share knowledge, and help you redirect your thinking to constructive places.
(No surprise, then, that the trainers and fellow coaches you learn with are such an impactful part of The Life Coaching College experience.)
#3 SELF-REFLECT AND BE YOUR OWN COACH
As a coach, every tool you learn to help clients to ‘get out of their own way’, overcome emotional blocks, and create success, you will first practice and master on yourself. That’s part of the process.
This comes in handy because it means you have a toolbox you can dip into to overcome the fears inherent in starting and running a coaching business. In fact, one of the very best tools to do this is NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), a core part of every single course at The Life Coaching College.
Just ask Nicole Cabello! Nicole signed up for the Master Practitioner of Coaching course while launching her own coaching business, NCONIC. In her opinion, NLP was the most impactful part of the program. She says, “NLP completely changed my relationships, my thoughts on who I am and who I could become, and how I operate my business.”
If you don’t have NLP knowledge (yet!), try your hand at journaling on these questions to help connect with your inner coach:
- What do I have to change to make [desired outcome] happen?
- What would [name] believe about herself/himself in this situation?
- How would a [e.g., 6-figure coach] behave in this situation?
- What does my coaching business need from me today?
#4 SET SMALL, ACHIEVABLE GOALS
If you’re feeling scared when (or of!) starting your coaching business? Start small.
American psychologist and goal-setting researcher Edwin Locke found that over 90% of the time, goals that were specific and challenging, but not overly challenging, led to higher performance when compared to easy goals, over-reaching goals, or goals that were too generic, such as a goal to do your best.
Every time you follow through on an achievable goal, you’ll build more confidence and create self-mastery, step-by-step. And the more you take action? The more you build traction and momentum.
What are some small goals you could set today to move you toward your larger goal of becoming a successful coach?
#5 DON’T WAIT FOR FEAR TO DISAPPEAR BEFORE TAKING ACTION
The bottom line? If you want to become a coach? Just do it!
Courage, determination, and resilience are things you can’t buy with a credit card. You already have them in spades inside you. You were born with them. It’s just a case of tapping into them and stepping up to become the person you need to be to have the business you want.
And remember, everything you want is on the other side of fear.
READY TO GET STARTED?
If it’s been on your heart to pursue coaching, don’t let fear hold you back from your big dreams. You could be doing something you love for a living in under a year! As graduate Dan Hancox says, the ability to create success is within all of us. You included.
Click here to explore our coaching courses.
