Nicky Kriel

Recapping January – March 2012 guest posts 1

 in Guest Post / site news  tagged Amber Fogarty / Angus MacLennan / beliefs / blue monday / business / change / Cindy Hillsey / clients / coaches / coaching / content / counselling / goals / guest post / habit / ideal client / Karen Williams / Karen Wise / knowledge / Lenny Deverill-West / Liz Scott / Lorraine Hurst / Marie Yates / marketing / Mei Qi Tan / mindset / networking / new year / niching / Nicky Kriel / Parallel conversations / plans / Relationship / relationships / Richard Nugent / success / Toni Knights / websites

Over the next few days I’m going to briefly recap the last years worth of guest posts that appear here each Friday.

Today we start by looking at the first three months of this year.

Image showing first January on a diary with pen on isolated color background with fine clipping path.

January

In the first post of 2012 Amber Fogarty shared how she is in the “habit change business” discussing something she talks about a lot with clients in “Developing Better Habits”.

Coach and trainer Lorraine Hurst then followed with a post that could be of use to both yourself and your clients. “Blue Monday – what colour will yours be?” was published just prior to the third Monday of the year – read the post to see the significance of that date!

Coach and author of “Secrets of Successful Coaches”, Karen Williams, shared her expertise and knowledge in the third guest post of the year: “How does your mindset affect your business?” Read how Karen believes mindset, marketing and business knowledge will affect a successful coaching business.

The final post in January saw Karen Wise sharing a personal experience in the post “Relationship drama.” How familiar is this incident in either your own life or with what your clients tell you?

Image showing 14th February a Valentine day with heart symbol & message.

February

As we started the second month of the year, coach Marie Yates turned her attention to the action taken to the goals and plans made at the start of the New Year. This post contains a series of questions to assist you to make progress. Read “The warm up is complete… It is time for the main event.” 11 months since this was first published – what would your answers to these questions be today?

Liz Scott loves bringing coaches together to share experiences and knowledge. Her post focused upon “Parallel conversations and coaching”, using her personal experience as a lesson to be used in coaching sessions.

Lenny Deverill-West shared how he has been practically incorporating other teachings into his own work with clients. Read more about what he is doing in “The Coaching Aha!”

Social Media coach Nicky Kriel discussed errors she’s seen coaches make attempting one particular marketing approach. Are you making any of the blunders featured in “5 Big Mistakes that Life Coaches make Networking”?

March

March

Coach Richard Nugent invited you to “Explore Some Half Truths Of Coaching” with the aim of getting you to think about your own professional beliefs that could help you be more successful.

A coaching website is on many new coaches to do list, in the second guest post in March Mei Qi Tan shared her expertise and knowledge about what to focus upon. Read her post “Websites: It’s not just about content – it’s about users.”

Coach Angus MacLennan, who delivers practical Business Support to Business Owners, turned his attention to the subject that can have many new coaching business owners scratching their heads in the post “Niching Has Failed”

How to market your coaching is an often requested topic, in our next guest post coach Cindy Hillsey shared her expertise and knowledge in “Marketing and your Ideal Client”

In the final guest post in March Coach Toni Knights discussed what she considers to decide if it is necessary to refer clients for additional help, in her post “Identifying When Clients Need Counselling”

Visit tomorrow

Come back tomorrow for a post recapping April – June, or if you can’t wait, clicking here will bring a list of every post that has been published on this site labelled as a guest post.

January & Febuary image © Indianeye | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos
Visit tomorrow image © Renata2k | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

5 Big Mistakes that Life Coaches make Networking 4

 in Guest Post  tagged business cards / business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching business / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / communications coach / executive coach / Guildford's social media queen / language / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / marketing / networking / Nicky Kriel / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development

Today, coach Nicky Kriel discusses errors she’s seen coaches make attempting one particular marketing approach.

5 Big Mistakes that Life Coaches make Networking

By Nicky Kriel

You may not know this, but Life Coaches have a bad reputation on the networking circuit. Anyone can call themselves a life coach and start a business without any formal training or certifications. So many people feel that because they have undergone a crisis, it qualifies them to be a life coach. The reality is there are more people wanting to be a life coaches than there are people looking for life coaches.

(Using the Google Keyword tool to find out what people are searching for on the internet, shows that each month 368,000 people search for the phrase “How to be a life coach” vs. 2,900 searches for “How to find a life coach”.)

Now let’s assume that you are still reading this and you are serious about earning a living from helping others develop themselves. What can you do to come across more professionally at networking meetings? Well, here are some of the mistakes that give life coaches a bad name.

1. Not realising that you are running a business

You may feel that you have found your purpose in life through what you do, but if you don’t make any money from doing it, it is just a hobby. It is not enough to be a good coach. You also need to be good at marketing and selling your business otherwise you won’t have any clients. If you don’t have the business skill yet, then it is time to make the effort to learn. There are many people at networking meetings who can give you advice.

2. Bad Business Cards

You don’t have to spend a fortune on business cards, but handing out a cheap looking business card won’t do your business any good. Some of the worst business cards have been given to me by life coaches. Some indications that you don’t take your business seriously are:

  • Printed on a flimsy card,
  • obviously home-made,
  • blatant typos,
  • email addresses or numbers crossed out and corrected,
  • “free” business cards from companies such as Vistaprint
  • Email address is obviously a shared family addresses or a Hotmail or yahoo address

 

3. Saying you can help everyone

If someone doesn’t know what type of customers you are looking for, how can they help you? If you can’t be specific about what type of client you want to work with, how do you expect other people to know whether you are a good match for a friend or acquaintance that needs some help? You cannot help everyone with everything. If you are too general, you will end up with no business.

4. Assuming that everyone knows what life coaches do

Most coaches are good at talking in coach talk with other coaches, but most people in a networking meeting don’t know what life coaching is about. Be aware of any jargon you might be using and think about what other people might be interested in. Stop talking about you and start thinking about what your audience might need.

5. Coming across as though you need a life coach yourself

If you want people to trust their inner most feelings with you, don’t air your dirty laundry or share your latest crisis with people you have only just met. People need to be confident that their secrets are safe with you.

If you are passionate about what you do, you need to find a way to make a living from doing it. Be professional and learn the skills you need to grow your business.

About the Author/Further Resources

Nicky Kriel, Guildford’s Social Media Queen, is passionate about empowering small business owners to use Social Media to grow their business. Her background is in Marketing and Sales and she is a Master NLP Practitioner.

As a Communication Coach, she helps people remember the “Social” aspect of Social Networking: It is not all about tools and technology, but about people and human relations.

Aside from her private coaching clients, she runs Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook workshops for business owners and bespoke courses for SMEs. Nicky really enjoys helping business owners to level the playing field by harnessing the power of social media.

You are welcome to follow Nicky on Twitter or like her “social media for newbies” Facebook page

Using Coaching Questions to develop your Social Media Strategy

 in Guest Post  tagged awareness / business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / executive coach / Facebook / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / LinkedIn / loyalty / measurement / Nicky Kriel / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / questions / sales / social media / social media strategy / Twitter

In this weeks guest post, communications coach and social networking expert, Nicky Kriel shares how you can use your coaching skills when developing your social media strategy.

Using Coaching Questions to develop your Social Media Strategy

by Nicky Kriel

Are you using Social Media to help grow your Coaching Business? It is very easy to say you do Social Media as a business because you have a Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook account, but do you have a Social Media strategy? So many businesses rush into setting up accounts without looking at the bigger picture.

Have you thought what you want to achieve through Social Media and how you will know when you’ve achieved it? It is so important to start with the end in mind; otherwise, you could get caught up in the chat, or find it to be an endless, mindless, unmeasured chore.

As a coach, have you ever asked your clients the following questions?

  • “What do you want?”
  • “And what will that do for you?”
  • “How will you know when you have achieved it?”

Have you thought of asking those questions to yourself about using Social Media for your business?

Here are some questions that will help you focus on what you want to get out of Social Media:

What’s the point?

  1. Awareness?
  2. Sales?
  3. Loyalty?

Pick one! Your focus will be very different according to which one you choose. For most small businesses the point of doing Social Media will be to build Awareness. More awareness tends to drive sales.

Where do your customers hangout?

To answer this question you will need to have a clear idea of who your customers are. Which Social Media platform are they most likely to use? Just because you might be comfortable using Facebook doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using LinkedIn if your business is predominantly business to business.

What’s your business about?

Forget having a few minutes to explain your business. Can you clearly state what your business is about in one sentence? The clearer you are about your business, the more customers you will attract. It is wonderful being warm and fuzzy as a coach, but if you can’t get your message across concisely, you will struggle to get new clients. On Social Media you have 120 characters on LinkedIn (The Headline) and 160 characters on Twitter (your Bio). People will make a decision whether or not to follow you or connect with you based on what you have written.

Do you have a list of keywords? It is worth spending a few minutes jotting down at least 10 words as your keywords. When you post updates or tweet are you using your keywords?

What’s your one Thing?

What makes you special? What is the one word that you would like to be associated with you? Disney has the word “Magic” and Volvo has “Safety”: So what word is yours? Are you consistently getting that message across on your website, in your bio and in your updates?

How will you know?

How will you know if you have been successful using Social Media?

What will you see? – (Will it be more visits to your website or more email enquiries?)

Hear? (Is it the phone ringing more often?)

Or feel? (Will it be the satisfaction of working with someone new?)

If you don’t know what success means to you, how will you know if you are wasting your time? If what you are currently doing on social media is not helping your business, you need to do something different. Start with the end in mind.

It is worth thinking about because Social Media can grow your business if you are focussed about using it.

About the author

Nicky Kriel, Guildford’s Social Media Queen, is passionate about empowering small business owners to use Social Media to grow their business. Her background is in Marketing and Sales and she is a Master NLP Practitioner.

As a Communication Coach, she helps people remember the “Social” aspect of Social Networking: It is not all about tools and technology, but about people and human relations.

Aside from her private coaching clients, she runs Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook workshops for business owners and bespoke courses for SMEs. Nicky really enjoys helping business owners to level the playing field by harnessing the power of social media.

You are welcome to follow Nicky on Twitter or like her “social media for newbies” Facebook page

The Perks and Pitfalls of Social Media for Coaches 6

 in Guest Post  tagged business coach / business coaching / charging / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / executive coach / Facebook / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / LinkedIn / marketing / Nicky Kriel / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / sales / social media / Twitter

This week, communications coach, Nicky Kriel shares her thoughts and expertise on the use of social media for coaches.

The Perks and Pitfalls of Social Media for Coaches

By Nicky Kriel

Are you using social media for your coaching business yet? If you are, how is it working for you? And if you are not, what’s stopping you? Social Media offers you a great opportunity to get more clients and build up relations with existing ones. Social Media is not about the Tools and the Technology; it is about people and relationships. And as a coach you are already good at that! If you have enough clients and are making enough money from your coaching business, you can stop reading now, but if you want to grow your business, I have listed five perks and pitfalls for you to consider.

Perks

1. Connect with a far greater audience than you could by networking or asking for referrals. Networking is fun and can be buzzy if you are extroverted, but exactly how many people can you meet at each meeting and how much time is it taking up? Networking online can allow you to make real connections with real people. I am writing this guest blog because I met Jen Waller through Twitter, I have never physically met her although I plan to have coffee with her when I am in her neck of the woods. Within two weeks of being active on Twitter I had my first coaching enquiry. I have never met anyone yet that I haven’t liked in real life after gelling with them through Social Media first.

2. Raise your profile both online and offline – Have you Googled yourself recently? Who does Google think you are? Have you had strangers walk up to you and say “You are……… you are a coach, I love your blog/tweets/Facebook page/website”? Have you been invited to do podcasts about your business? Or radio interviews? Or been quoted by someone else as an expert? All these things are possible without spending a penny on public relations. I know because they have all happened to me last year and they could be happening to you too!

3. Potential clients can get a taste of what you are like before they commit – Your personality comes through even in 140 characters and potential customers can sample bite-size pieces of what you offer. You build rapport before even meeting or talking to people. People feel connected to you if they can read your thoughts and opinions, see pictures of you, hear your voice or watch a video of you.

4. Meet like-minded people – I have met so many supportive wonderful people who are willing me on to succeed. Like attracts like. There are many people out there who will like what you are doing if your intentions are good.

5. Learn – Twitter has provided me with a wealth of information. There is so much information about how to do almost anything and most of it is freely available. YouTube is brilliant for learning how to do things too.

Pitfalls

1. It’s a marathon not a sprint – Things don’t tend to happen instantly. For Social Media to work for you, you need to be part of the community, which means you need to show up consistently. You don’t need to spend hours each day on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, but you do need to be there.

2. You can’t hide behind a corporate image – People do business with people they know like and trust and you will get further revealing your personality than using stiff marketing language. More people will connect with people than businesses.

3. There is no simple formula – If someone suggests you automate everything, please don’t pay attention to them. There is no substitute for personality. You need to build up your own quality network, engage with your audience as a person and not a robot. Anyone who thinks that simply feeding inspirational quotes into your feed is going to bring you business, needs to consider this: there is only one you. Why use the words of someone else when you can say it yourself?

4. Need to be conscious of what you make public – What you broadcast online becomes public and visible to a large number of people. Don’t put posts you wouldn’t want your family to read or to see as a headline in a newspaper. If you are a coach, telling people you are depressed is probably not a good idea. You always need to be conscious of how you market yourself.

5. Easy to get overwhelmed by Social Media – It is very easy to be overpowered by all the possibilities. It is good to start with a big picture of where you would like to be and have a clear intention in mind of what you want to get out of using Social Media. But remember this; you start all journeys with a single step. It is better to get to know one tool well before moving onto the next rather than trying to do everything at once and giving up.

If you would like to know more about Social Media, I write about Social Media regularly on my blog http://www.nickykriel.com/blog and I have started up a page on Facebook called Social Media for Newbies.

About the Author/Further Resources

Nicky Kriel came from a Marketing and Sales background before she retrained as a Master NLP Practitioner. As a Communication Coach, her passion is empowering people to reach their true potential. Aside from her private coaching clients, she runs personal development and social media courses for business owners. www.nickykriel.com

This is the second guest post from Nicky Kriel. To read her first one, 5 ways to make your coaching business successful, click here

2010 guest posters 1

 in Guest Post / site news  tagged 5 Ways toMake your Coaching Business Successful / Andy Lucas / Angus MacLennan / bennefits / Biographies For Coaches / business coach / business coaching / Chris Morris / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching content / coaching courses / coaching preparation / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching welcome pack / discover your passion / Dr Colin Clerkin / executive coach / Frederique Murphy / Free resource / get it done / How You Act Is What You Will See Or Read / Jeff T / Jeff Weigh / Judy Rees / Karen Williams / leadership coaching / Lenny Deverill-West / let's talk about context / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / listening / Liz Scott / marketing for coaches / Michael Neill / networking for coaches / Nicky Kriel / note to my younger self / once upon a time / performance coaching / personal development / questions / Richard Nugent / Stever Robbins / Sue Sharp / Terri Carey / The Evolution of a Coach / The power of parrot-phrasing / The Secrets of Successful Coaches / The source of personal power? / Transformative Coaching / What would you see as the credits roll ...?

The Friday Guest post on Coaching Confidence is taking a break over the festive period. (Want to be a guest poster in 2011? visit HERE)

Instead, today you will find a list of all the guest posters since we started the feature with links to their respective posts.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all these posters for taking the time to share so generously. I’d also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

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5 Ways to Make your Coaching Business Successful 3

 in Guest Post  tagged brand / business / business coach / business coaching / charging / cheerleaders / client / clients / coach / coaches / coaching / coaching courses / coaching qualifications / coaching skills / coaching techniques / coaching training / executive coach / leadership coaching / life coach / life coaches / life coaching / marketing / mentors / money / Nicky Kriel / nlp coach / performance coaching / personal coach / personal development / success / successful business

So you’re considering turning coaching into a business? Perhaps you’ve already taken that step. In this weeks guest post. Nicky Kriel shares tips of how to run a successful coaching business.

5 Ways to Make your Coaching Business Successful

by Nicky Kriel

You are a coach. You have found something that you absolutely love doing, haven’t you? Don’t you love those light bulb moments when you see your client’s face light up? You love helping people to get to where they want to be. You love the feeling of making a difference in someone’s life. You have a real passion for what you do and you feel that you have found your calling in life.

So everything is rainbows and kittens, isn’t it?

The reality is a little bit different isn’t it? You have spent a substantial amount of money and time on your training, you have had very positive feedback from people you have coached; people should be lining up for you, shouldn’t they? So where are they?

There are a few coaches who become very successful and make a good living from coaching, but there are substantially more who find themselves taking a job to make ends meet. There is plenty of advice out there for coaches to deal with their clients. There is advice on how to get rapport easily, what questions to ask and techniques to use. There is very little advice about setting up your coaching practice as profitable business. The best advice for work is find something you love doing and then get someone to pay you to do it, but if you are not earning a living from what you love doing; it is a hobby, not a business!

1. Resolve any issues you have about money

So many coaches I know have an issue about charging money for something that they love doing. They undervalue their service or feel guilty about accepting payment. As a coach, you probably know quite a lot of coaches. Who would be a good person to help you clear out issues you have about money? How can you stop limiting yourself? What are your issues you have with money? Are you self-sabotaging? It is easier asking someone to help you with an issue than trying to resolve it all by yourself. Just because you can coach someone through their money issues doesn’t mean that you can do it on yourself.

2. Start thinking about coaching as a business

If you are working for yourself, you need to learn how to be a good marketer, sales person, public relations person, bookkeeper, accountant, administrator and IT specialist. What skills do you already have in these areas? Who can help you develop these skills?

I found the best way for me to become more business orientated was to network with business people. I have learnt so much by the questions people asked me, especially the ones that completely stumped me. You don’t have to know everything to get started, but you must be willing to keep learning and keep improving as you go along. When you network, you will find plenty of people who will give you free advice and help.

Read books about business. One book that I would recommend is Dee Blick’s “Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget “ which has good practical advice for small business. There are many good books available. What skills do you still need learn? Are there people who could help you in these areas?

3. Think of your business as an object

If you are your business, it is sometimes hard to think of your business objectively. I had an “Aha!” moment, when a business adviser asked me how I was marketing my business. I was getting quite defensive about it. Knowing that I came from a marketing background, he asked if I had a tin of baked beans, how would you market it? I knew instantly! I realised that I had to start thinking of myself as a tin of baked beans! Not literally, of course! I had to think of myself as a product or an object.

What is your brand? Can an outside person tell what you are offering or is it all in your head? Find someone neutral (not family or close friends) who can give you an objective viewpoint on how you are coming across at the moment. Are you coming across the way you think you are?

4. Resource yourself

As a coach, we are used to asking our clients what resources they need to help them get to where they want to be. So, what resources do you need to make your coaching business successful? Here are some of the ways that I think you might need to support yourself.

Mentors – People who are already where you want to be and are willing to guide you along the way, they could be fellow coaches or successful business people. They are the people who have been there, done that and got the bruises along the way.

Coaches – All coaches need coaches. Nobody is perfect, if you believe in coaching you should be developing yourself through coaching as well. Who is helping you to get to where you want to be?

Cheerleaders – You need people who are on your side, who are cheering you on and keeping you motivated, especially at times when you feel disappointed or frustrated.

People who can help you in your business – Do you need to do everything yourself? Are there people who can save you time by doing tasks that you don’t know how to do or don’t like doing? The most precious commodity you have as a business person is your time. Could you be spending more time doing tasks that generate money, by paying people to help you?

5. Think from your client/customers viewpoint

What ratio of “you” to “I” words are you using when you talk to someone? If you have a website or a blog, what is the number of “I”, “me”, “my”, “our” and “us” vs. “you” and “your” that you are using? It is a quick indicator of whether you are focussed on things from your viewpoint or your customer’s viewpoint. When you meet someone find out what their needs and wants are before selling yourself. Offering your toolbox of skills is meaningless to a potential client, they are interested in how their needs can be met.

If you really want to be a coach, you need to make coaching work for you as a business. So what are the changes that will make a difference?

About the Author/Further Resources

Nicky Kriel came from a Marketing and Sales background before she retrained as a Master NLP Practitioner. As a Communication Coach, her passion is empowering people to reach their true potential. Aside from her private coaching clients, she runs personal development and social media courses for business owners. www.nickykriel.com

To read a second guest post by Nicky Kriel, “The perks and pitfalls of social media for coaches” click here.