“Groucho isn’t my real name. I’m just breaking it in for a friend.” - Julius ‘Groucho’ Marx

I have seen countless coaches get to the exciting stage of naming their business only find the process of registering the name drives them crazy.

Having named several companies myself, I know the feeling, and understand exactly how frustrating it can be. Just when you come up with the perfect name, you ‘Google it’ to find that another coach is using it already; or trawl through the Companies House database to find another company has already submitted it for registration.

A few years ago when I was planning my website, I went online to buy BevJames.com and BevJames.co.uk, only to find that both domain names had already been taken.

My heart sank. Who could have bought them? What sort of business were they running? Could I persuade them to sell them to me? Those and other less charitable thoughts went through my mind as I delved further.

I looked up the name of the owner … only to find it was me! I had brought them a few years previously when I set up Elements Consulting, my first coaching business, but had forgotten about them. The relief was immense – and it was a real wake-up call.

Web domain names are so valuable that they are being bought-up speculatively these days – so whatever stage you are at in your business planning, don’t delay. No matter what name you eventually choose for your business, if your own name is available, buy it now if you can.

TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING A NAME FOR YOUR BUSINESS

DITCH IT

The two most common mistakes that people make when choosing a name:

• Trying to be too cryptic or clever. If you have to explain how to spell the name or what it means every time you speak to someone – forget it.
• Using unusual spelling to be different. People may forget the spelling and find it difficult to find you online; or worse, mis-spell it and stumble upon of your competitors by mistake.

It is also wise to avoid using words that will date, may cause offence or have regional or UK spelling.

DO IT!

Things to ask yourself when choosing a name:

• Is it memorable?
• Is it easy to spell?
• Does the name tell people what you do? e.g. Life Coaching for Change
• Does it give out a message that will limit future development? e.g. The Brighton Coach (not much use if you move to Inverness, or could be mistaken for a transport hire company.) You get the idea.

Decide on your name and get if registered before ordering business cards and stationery, to avoid unnecessary disappointment and expense.

Consider using your own name as the business name – especially if you already have an established reputation. It has worked well for self-improvement gurus such as Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy. It also increases the chance of your name being remembered when people make personal recommendations – and improves the chances of your name being returned in Google searches.

Register your name – Once you have chosen your name, check to see whether the domain is available. Just Google “UK Domain registration” for a full list, or contact Nominet, which manages .uk domain name registrations.

If you are a limited company check out the Companies House website to make sure the name is available. You can use different names for trading and registration.

SPECIAL NOTE:

There are legal guidelines surrounding the use of words such as ‘Limited’, ‘Associates’, ‘Partners’, ‘Trust’, etc.

Certain ‘sensitive words and expressions’ need permission and proof for use if they:

• Suggest your business is of national or international importance (such as British, International, Olympic etc)
• Imply special status or authority (such as Association)
• Describe a particular function (such as Charity or Trust)
• Suggest a connection with government (such as Agency) or the Royal family (such as Royal)
• Imply professional status (such as Chartered, Registered, etc.)

There are also legal guidelines about Trademark infringement and passing off. Again, Companies House offers clear guidelines and advice. Business Link also offers useful information via their website.

Tell the world you exist – once you have decided on your company name and have registered it (but not before!), get the word out via as many routes as you have available. Don’t be shy. Use Twitter, LinkedIn, email and every other avenue of business communication.

The more often others mention you and eventually link to you, the more likely you are to be found and recommended.

TOP TIP: Even if you don’t plan to use your own name for your business, make sure you own the domain. Buy the .com and .co.uk if they are available and I suggest you DO IT! today.

About Bev

Bev is CEO of The Academy Group which includes The Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy (EBA) & EBA for Coaches which are both joint ventures with James Caan. Her book “Do It! or Ditch It” has already been listed as a bestselling business title and she is ready to pass on her success to your organisation.

Connect with Bev on Google+

1. What’s your motivation?

Bev James

Personal motivation is more than just a state of mind; it is a state of being and a habit of behaviour. Scientists have found that the more personally motivated we are to succeed, the more energy, focus and resilience we develop. Motivation comes from within – as a personal desire to succeed, and also from an external need – such as hunger, comfort, reward or recognition. We move either away from something we fear, or towards something we desire. Thomas Edison was once asked whether he was afraid of anything. He replied ‘I am afraid of the dark.’ Perhaps that fear motivated him in his determination to develop the lightbulb.

Most people who train as coaches are motivated first and foremost by their desire to make a difference. Most find it easy to give their time and energy to help other people but may struggle to build a thriving business because they are reticent about selling their services, or have a lack of marketing knowhow. As coaches, you already know that your attitude of mind influences the outcome of your behaviour. Success is literally a habit – of mind and behaviour.

It is not enough simply to want to succeed – we have to believe it is possible too. The reality is that you can’t make a difference without having clients – and to be a successful coach you need to become marketing savvy. I believe excellent coaches have a duty to tell as many people as they can reach about the services they offer and in so doing make the biggest positive impact as possible. Building a business is not down to luck – it is a process, and a skill that can be learned like any other. You will need to put as much time and effort into building your business as you did into your training. Tell as many people as possible that you exist and keep communicating that message as often and as clearly as you can. It is not enough to believe, ‘When I am qualified, they will come.’ Too many coaches eventually abandon the work they love to do because they have too few clients to generate an income.

I know what it is like to train as a coach and set up an independent coaching business from scratch and can still remember the buzz of excitement when I got my very first client. I also know what it is like to run several successful businesses, which is why I want to pass my experience on to others and I am on a mission to help others adopt my philosophy of combining a coaching heart with a commercial mind. That is why I have now launched EBA for Coaches with James Caan.

• How many hours a week do you spend marketing your business or focusing on increasing your professional visibility online?
• Have you drawn up a business or a marketing plan?
• What is your long term vision for your self and your business?

Over the next few weeks I am going to share with you the ten most common marketing mistakes that coaches make when setting up a business – and most importantly, how to avoid them. Once you know what to look out for you will be better prepared and better able to make your new enterprise a success.

Tip no.1: Remember you are running a business and that your time has value

Coaching is a great business because you have very few overheads, no office costs and low or no staff costs. With minimal set up costs and little need for funding to get the business off the ground, many coaches continue to work full or part time until their business takes off. This is both good and bad. Good of course because coaching it is a very low / no risk business. On the other side of the coin it can lead to complacency and no sense of urgency to build up the client base.

It is important to remember that whilst simple in concept, coaching is a business, and you need to set things up to make sure that the business runs profitably and efficiently. Coaches encourage their clients to set specific and achievable goals so, why wouldn’t you do this too? A basic business plan is commercial goal setting. Within your plan you will work out how many clients you require, how much you will charge, what costs may be incurred (marketing, phone etc) and how much profit you will make.

I often say to people, ‘Don’t say “I’ve got a coaching practice” You’re not practicing, it’s a business.’ You need to look at your costs, you need to look at your prices, set them properly and view your coaching business as a business. You need a coaching heart to win and retain your clients, but a commercial mind to help you find them and to enable your business to succeed.

BEV JAMES is CEO of The Academy Group including the Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy and EBA for Coaches, joint ventures with James Caan; and The Coaching Academy – the world largest training school for coaches. She is a millionaires’ mentor, a serial entrepreneur and author of DO IT! or DITCH IT: Turn ideas into action and make decisions that count – 8 steps to business success, Virgin Books, July 2011.

Eight steps to business success from the millionaires’ mentor, Bev James - How to turn ideas into action and make decisions that count

“The must-read book for every entrepreneur at all stages of business building, particularly before big ideas are launched.” James Caan, Founder and CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw

Welcome to the world of Do It! or Ditch It! thinking – where decision-making is clear and everything is possible. It all depends on how far you want to go with your dreams and plans.

Do It! or Ditch It was born out of the frustration of seeing too many good business ideas go to waste while bad ideas take up valuable time and resources – and from a strong desire to show that we are always in control of our own decisions and can choose to be successful if we wish.

We all know people who have good ideas that never seem to take off. Month after month they talk about their vision, but it always remains a glimmer on the horizon. Nothing ever happens. The dream is clouded by talk of ‘should’, ‘might’, ‘could’.

A goal needs focused decision-making to make it happen. Decisions lead to action. Action propels us forward, brings about change, and delivers results. Being successful in business for the long term depends on the decisions that you make each and every day.

During my career I have built several businesses during periods of recession. Now my mission is to help other business owners to achieve their own dreams of success.

The Do It! or Ditch It approach is based on my experiences as a business mentor, leadership coach and a business owner.

Part I includes five decision-making tools that you can apply in a fast, focused and considered way.

Part II will show you how to apply each of these steps to different areas of your business. Each of these tools will help you to decide what to DO! and what to DITCH! along the way.

Do It! or Ditch It includes a simple approach to personality profiling called DISC. You will learn whether you are mainly Dominant, Influencing, Steady or Compliant and how your personality influences the way you make decisions. Understanding your DISC style helps you identify why and how you make the decisions you do and explore what could be holding you back, helping you develop the ability to modify thinking and behavior to explore opportunities from multiple standpoints.

Decision making precedes any action and, when required, the ability to see the world from others’ points of view.

The Do It! or Ditch It path is not for everyone. It requires mental toughness, self-discipline and single-mindedness – but it is extremely rewarding. For those with the resilience and tenacity to turn their business dream into a commercial reality, Do It! or Ditch It will help you to make focused decisions, use time wisely and stay on track to get to where you want to be.

You can you pre order my book via Amazon which will be released at the end of July. Place your order now. If you bring your copy of the book with you to our Coaching Academy events, do ask Bev to personalise it for you.

Do it! or Ditch it
Eight steps to business success
How to turn ideas into action and make decisions that count
BEV JAMES
ISBN: 978-0-753-53999-6
Virgin Books
Publication: 28 July 2011

A host of free resources will soon be available from www.BevJames.com – bookmark this site and come back at the end of July. Be one of the first people to learn how to turn the right idea into a stonking one! You can also follow Bev James on Twitter to keep updated.

My discovery of coaching started when we involved a business coach as part of a management development programme I was working on within a large property services plc. I was running part of the training day when the coach explained how her questioning techniques would help managers deal with conflicts better, aid team participation, motivation and employee development.

I was impressed and immediately saw how useful it could be in a vast range of situations. To explore it more, and as part of my own personal development, I requested to work directly with a coach. That was the real turning point.

I decided training as a coach was my way forward but it was a busy time. I was in the midst of buying a new house, half way through a Masters Degree in HRM, under threat of redundancy and found out I was pregnant! I took my maternity leave early to pursue the idea and went on the Certificate Weekend with The Coaching Academy. Then I was totally hooked on learning to become a great coach and to work for myself.

I did my research carefully and made an informed decision who to train with, taking into account my situation, learning style and the practicalities of studying. For me, The Coaching Academy was the right choice. Their reputation and thorough training courses included lots of participation, practical exercises, interactive training days as well as using methodology suited me. I saw the benefit in being examined in all these areas as part of the diplomas. Weekend training days and studying at my own pace through the other learning materials meant less pressure for me. I had no idea how motherhood would affect me.

I thoroughly enjoyed my training with The Coaching Academy, especially the training days because of the buzz of excitement and self-development that goes on there. It took me two years and I qualified with a distinction in the Personal Performance Coaching Diploma.

When I launched my business I took on board the marketing information and support to get started as a coach provided. I understood the benefit of having a niche, though, because of my HR and previous recruitment background wasn’t sure what my niche would be.

After I’d been coaching paying clients for a while, I looked at who I had been working with and what on. I have a discounted rate for trainee coaches and really enjoy spurring them on to overcome their fears, leap into business and start marketing themselves. All the people I’d coached who wanted careers or confidence coaching were actually small businesses, people wanting to work for themselves or start their own business.

Small Business and Start-up Business Coaching has become my niche. I mainly work with those who are working alone on their business.

I took a step back and looked at what this meant. As a new small business myself I needed to build credibility in this area. So, I dedicated myself to learning about what will help small businesses start and grow. I constantly improve my skills and knowledge in both coaching and for small business marketing, communication, planning and so on. I’ve embraced social media and in a very short space of time have an established great presence on LinkedIn, a Facebook page and have over 1000 targeted followers on Twitter.

I set up a coaching circle locally and now use coaching, networking, co-working and even my accountant and Twitter so that I don’t feel isolated working on my own.

I’ve always been very good at planning and organising, so that forms quite a large part of how I’ve done so much myself and how I help the people who work with me. What I’ve found for me and my small business clients is that we all want it now! When you’re ready, it is frustrating waiting for things to happen and keeping up motivation whilst getting going can be tough. You can start marketing and planning activities even before you launch. With well thought out plans, a mentor or coach and other support, you really can achieve much more than you could imagine. I’m proof of that!

In less than a year, I’ve organised two events for local businesses, learnt and applied knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). My website, at the time of writing, is number one on Google for ‘Small Business Assistance’ and on page one for other searches I’ve been working on in my area – Croydon and Surrey. I’ve had articles published in papers and magazines. The first news story written about me was in the Croydon Advertiser on 7 January and included my small business workshops. I’ve also been asked to speak, write articles and about blogging for third parties too.

One of my favourite coaching questions is, ‘What would be fantastic to achieve, if you dared to imagine you could?’ I don’t think I dared imagine this much success, activity and interest in me, even just six months ago!

I absolutely love coaching, being a coach and mostly how the possibilities of it’s usefulness are endless. It’s the most fulfilling role I’ve ever had and made me the happiest I’ve ever been, and I was quite happy before! I say, ‘My success is only in your success’, to my clients, and that’s very satisfying and I think it is a wonderful position to be in.

If you’re looking at pursuing coaching to enhance your career, make a change or just resolve some issues, I’d suggest, (as I would never give advice!) that you carefully research how you can do this in the best way that will suit you and then to go for it!

If you’re in training, started using coaching in your work or set up on your own, I’d encourage you to take all opportunities to be coached, get over any fears and anxieties you have and continue to use coaching to move you forward. This means you can reap the benefits and show others how much it can do for them, as it does for you. Take advice and support from wherever you can get it and follow those who inspire you. Sign up to their newsletters, blogs and follow them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to keep you motivated, always positive and growing.

Did I mention, I had a beautiful baby girl and I love being a mum so much I decided to work only part-time on my business?!

It was worth going through with a coach how my business would fit in with my life, and it’s enabled me to maintain a great work-life balance. I have limited childcare so it’s worked really well for me, and those I work with, having sessions by phone and over the internet in the evenings.

The best bits about becoming a coach, for me, is that it is amazing doing something you love, helping others to achieve what they want too and that it really doesn’t feel like ‘work’!

by Wendy Ager

I’m always interested to know what happens once coaching is over with a client. Sometimes I find out when a client tells me they’ve been referred and then I reckon things must have gone well. Most times I don’t know the end result. But what I do know is that the work that I put in and the responsibility that I expect of my client, increases the likelihood of success.

Conversations with coaches over the past months and statistics cited on the progress of coaches into succesful practice lead to me ask, what happens after coaches qualify?

The Pareto 80:20 Principle

Well general estimates are that about 20% go on to make a fair to good living out of coaching, which is great – but this means that 80% don’t and it’s this group of people that interests me the most. Again in conversations with a variety of people, it appears that approximately 10% of people may only have gone into coaching for self-development reasons or perhaps to incorporate coaching in their current job. Another 10% of trained coaches, I believe, are quite content not to go into practice and the thought of setting up a business doesn’t interest them at all. So that leaves 60% of trained coaches and what happens to them? Are they simply no good at coaching? Can’t they manage to develop a succesful business? Well again in conversation with people, the thing that comes across, time and time again, is that they are STUCK. Not stuck on coaching but stuck on the BUSINESS.

Many people who have trained as coaches, may well work in a corporate environment, in an organisation or in a small business, but they don’t have any commercial, sales, marketing or business development experience and it’s here that people often get stuck. And it’s the same in other professions such as therapy, technical consultancies and complementary medicine. People get stuck on the business.

The Biz

Now let’s explain what business is and isn’t. Creating a website, or businesscards, or brochures or social networks is not the business, nor is it marketing. These are just some aspects of PROMOTION in the marketing mix and often these parts are the easy bits. Even setting up a company, finding an accountant, getting legal advice and finding premises are relatively easy these days.

So you’re asking, then what is BUSINESS? Well it’s everything that incorporates & facilitates the profitable transaction of products and services to a client or customer. Oh dear, that sounds fancy and did I say profitable? Well, this is where the challenge starts.

You’re probably saying to yourself right now that he’s making lots of assumptions here and where’s his evidence? Who says that 60% of trained coaches are stuck? Who says that only 20% of coaches develop succesful businesses?

Well, welcome to the business world. In the absence of evidence, in business we have to make assumptions until we have evidence. Unless you make assumptions or what I call ‘guesstimates’ then you will stand still and you will be stuck.

So how do I make these assumptions and where do they come from? Well they come from talking to people, getting out there in the ‘market place’ and talking to potential clients, competitors, other professionals. It’s called ‘putting yourselves about’ or networking and the more you network in a structured way, the better.

And once you realise and accept that you are stuck, then you can begin to move forward. And the GROW model in coaching is an excellent model to use, not only to move clients towards their goals but to move you towards your goal of developing a succesful business.

Chasing Rainbows

Every day I get emails from people saying that if I follow them on the internet, watch their webinars, buy their books and download their recordings then I will become a millionare in six months, have hundreds of clients and be happy beyond belief. Well, that may well work for a small number of people, but remember, I want to shift a good number of the 60% of coaches who are stuck and they are there only because they lack the business training and knowledge to move themselves forward. And we want realism not idealism.

So often as coaches we’re pushed into a corner really early on, being told to find our niche – “You must find your niche”, “What’s your niche?” “You’ll only be succesful if you niche” Niche, niche, niche. If you’ve only just qualified, you’re probably asking “How on earth do I know? – it’s too early to tell”

Someone said, apologetically, in a meeting the other day that they have “10 niches and they really must only have one to be succesful”. Wrong! 10 is better than 20 is better than 30 – the scattergun approach. My answer was, that if they continue the process, then they’ll get down to two or three; and this takes time. But you do need to develop this process of refining your focus and this happens by taking, amongst other things, the following steps.

SWOT & PESTs

As a marketeer and business developer for many years, I know that you can’t identify your niche until you have audited the marketplace and all the dynamics there, by using well known processes such as SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) and by doing a PEST Analysis (Political, Economic, Social & Technological). OK these sound all wordy and complicated but they are easy to learn once you’ve done it a couple of times. It’s like stock-taking in a shop or like reviewing all the options when you buy a car. You’re doing an audit.

Next, you need to do an audit of your own skills, qualifications, experience and importantly PASSION. Oh yes, lots of PASSION.

How many of you have even thought of including PASSION in your planning? It is central to your being and to your future success. Imagine what it will feel like, doing the sort of job that you passionately like, passionately care about and passionately get out of bed for every day.

And it’s then, after you have written down all of these important dynamics of your future business that you can begin to look at arranging all the pieces on your ‘battle-plan’.

The Four P’s

A model called the Four P’s of Marketing can help you to synthesize your business plan.

PRODUCT identifies all aspects of what you are offering, from the features, benefits and Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – what makes it special to what makes you different from the competition.

PLACE looks at the marketplace, your target customers, the sectors you want to serve and your competitors.

PRICE is price and all aspects of it, how high, how low, how often, how much and what, compared with the competition.

And finally, phew, PROMOTION. Yippee, now you can finally play with developing websites, brochures, Twitter, Facebook etc., Can you see, it’s taken quite a bit of time and effort to get to this point? Business Development isn’t just about producing all your promotional items, it is the process.

And that’s why I reckon that there should be Five P’s of Marketing and the last one is the most important and it is PROCESS. The process drives your business development through all the aspects that I’ve detailed above and it’s just like the GROW Model – it is a model, a strategy for looking at ALL elements of the business mix and it needs to have movement. And to have a succesful business, you need to go methodically through these, just as you do every time you coach. And the final result will be your Business Plan.

All you have to do is learn a new model – the Business Development Model. But fear not, this is not complicated. It only appears to be, because you have probably not encountered it before. As you learned how to ride a bike, how to drive a car and even how to coach, so you will learn the skills for Business Development

So, if coaching isn’t quite happening for you at the moment and you want it to, then accept that you are not a failure, you are not doing it wrong, you’re not missing the point, you are probably STUCK. That’s often why coaches don’t coach!

So, imagine learning an exciting new skill for yourself and your business, imagine the experience of creating ‘shift’ and imagine moving FORWARD towards your wonderful goal.

In subsequent articles I’ll help you to learn more about how to develop your business, how to SWOT the PESTs, find your P’s and develop your Sales Pipeline.
And, more importantly, liberate your PASSION and unstick yourself!

by John Aspden