Everyone thought you were crazy when you said you wanted to be a coach. “You can’t make money as a coach! How will you pay your bills?” 

We hear stories like this all the time. Friends and family doubt the idea of coaching as a profession or business. 

“Who will pay for such a thing?” 

“It’s not covered by insurance so why would anyone do that?”

Fortunately, they’re wrong. 

Your desire to become a coach probably wasn’t to get rich but you didn’t start it as a hobby either. You truly want to help people transform their lives. Transformation, though, doesn’t pay the bills.

But, if you can figure out how to get people to pay for that transformation, THAT will pay the bills!

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur

How to Make Money as a Coach

Whether you are just starting out or wanting to add additional sources of revenue, there are 7 primary ways to make money as a coach.

So let’s dive right in and talk about some of them.

#1: One-on-One

The most commonly known way for coaches to make money is through one-on-one coaching which involves working with one individual at a time.

It’s a lot like traditional therapy models; one client, one coach, and it’s where most coaches get started. 

With every option, there are pros and cons. Let’s talk about some of the reasons this is a good way to make money as a coach.

Pros:

• A great starting point when you don’t have an existing audience. 
• Startup cost is practically $0. It doesn’t take a lot of money to begin working with clients one-on-one.
• One-on-one coaching is a great way to figure out your overall niche, style, and system
• It can be extremely rewarding when you get to see the transformation you facilitate.

Cons:

• It can be difficult to scale your business because you only have so many hours in a day. You’ll be locked in to how much money you can make.
• The search for for new clients that can afford your coaching services will be ongoing.

#2: VIP Days 

The next option to make money as a coach is to set up VIP Days.

VIP Days are a great way to do a deep dive with clients that need to get through your process fast.

While typical one-on-one coaching programs may happen over a period of time, VIP days condense all the work into one or two days.

Pros:

• You can charge premium rates for VIP days. 
• Transformation happens much more quickly for the client.
• Typically low investment costs. You may want to reserve a relaxing meeting space and provide some VIP extras for clients but the general costs can be taken directly from the client’s payment.

Cons:

• VIP days can be draining and often happen on weekends. 
• These are also not extremely scalable.
• You will always be looking for new clients.

#3: Online Courses/In-Person Training

Once you’ve narrowed down some of the main concerns for your audience, you can start to offer webinars or in-person training and workshops.

These programs typically focus on a specific strategy for moving your participants to the next level.

They are a great way to make money as a coach while also marketing your one-on-one coaching programs.

Pros:

• You can reach a larger audience than one-on-one coaching.
• The presentations are often a great way to promote your one-on-one coaching programs while getting paid.
• You can educate your clients on the basics that will help them get the most out of your one-on-one programs.
• If you are being hired to offer these programs, the cost to set up the webinar is very low.

Cons:

• On, the other hand, setting up webinars or in-person workshops that you will host can be expensive.
• You may not enjoy being on stage or in front of a camera.
• Participants all need to have the same starting place and ending place to truly benefit from the course.

#4: Group Coaching

Group coaching is a way for coaches to scale their services. You can make money as a coach by offering your coaching services to more than one person at the same time.

These group coaching programs typically revolve around a specific topic or desired transformation. They can be conducted virtually or in-person. 

Pros:

• Easier to leverage your time. You can serve multiple people at once.
• More scalable. You can offer more programs at any one time.
• Allow members to feel better supported and like they aren’t alone.
• Can be less expensive for individual members so you reach a wider audience.

Cons:

• Because these programs are less expensive for the members, that means you have to have more participants to get to a break-even point vs one-on-one coaching.
• You will probably have some start up costs for tools to help run your programs.
• More participants means you will need to do more marketing to fill your program.
• Clients may not see as much of a transformation since there isn’t as much time to work directly with each group member.

#5: Mastermind Groups

Mastermind groups are similar to group coaching programs in that you gather a group of individuals together.

However, group coaching is usually designed to last a limited amount of time and take group members on a specific, preplanned journey to the desired destination. The coach serves as the only guide on that journey.

Masterminds, on the other hand, bring together a group of like-minded individuals who wish to support one another.

The coach serves as the facilitator, rather than a guide, and each member can offer input and feedback to the other members.

There’s typically no fixed journey or destination in mind and the mastermind can last indefinitely.

Pros:

• You don’t need to be the all-knowing expert to run these groups. 
• It’s not necessary to have a pre-designed system or path to take group members through.
• Like group coaching, it’s easier to leverage your time. You can host more than one mastermind group at a time.
• Masterminds can be ongoing for long periods of time. This recurring revenue can be substantial without having to market over and over.
• The cost to start a mastermind can be low.

Cons:

• People typically join mastermind groups because of the leader. If you don’t have an audience already, it will be difficult to attract members.
• It can be tough to keep members engaged and active. Many mastermind groups fall apart when their members stop showing up consistently.
• There can be some headaches managing recurring payments and chasing participants whose payments didn’t go through.

#6: Membership Programs

Membership programs are another good way to make money as a coach. Programs typically combine a little bit of everything.

They include live courses, a resource library of training materials, some group coaching, and maybe even a little one-on-one time.

Pros:

• Membership programs, like masterminds, do not usually have an end date. They are meant to be ongoing providing recurring revenue for the coach.
• These programs also allow you to leverage your time and make resources available to more people at once.
• One membership program can easily be scaled to very large numbers.

Cons:

• Most membership programs include software on the back end to manage the members. This software can be expensive to set up and usually has a recurring fee. So if you're just “trying” it out, that can be a high cost to entry.
• If you do not already have a large bank of resources, you will be spending a lot of your time creating new resources for the members. 
• Managing recurring payments, dropping and adding members, and following up on tech issues can be challenging.

#7: Evergreen Courses

Evergreen courses are named after the trees that don’t drop their leaves in the winter.

These courses are made available year-round.

The great thing about evergreen courses is that, once you create them, your work is essentially done.

OK, you still need to promote them once in a while but the work to write and set up the course is done. You don’t even need to be present for the actual course! Another name for evergreen courses might be home study courses.

These programs are one of the most scalable ways to make money as a coach.

Pros:

• One time creation. You only have to write, record, and set up the course once. After that, the money continues to come in for you.
• Highly scalable. Evergreen courses are not limited to a certain number of participants. They can be sold to one or 100k+ people all at once.
• Affordable to the participants. Evergreen courses are generally less expensive than working one-on-one or even in a small group with the coach. 
• You can make money WHILE working with other clients or taking time off.
• Evergreen courses are a great way to introduce your prospective coaching clients to you and your style in an affordable way.

Cons:

• Expensive to set up. The tools and set up of evergreen courses can be expensive to do well.
• Larger audiences needed. Most coaches struggle to sell their evergreen programs and break even because they don’t have a large enough audience yet.
• No visible transformation. For coaches that love to see the AHA moment, there’s little of that in evergreen programs. The most you might get is an email with their appreciation after the fact.

Take it to the Bank

Time to review (as all good coaches would). You want to make money by coaching so you can create more transformation for more people and still be able to pay your bills. A noble and worthy goal.

Your options to make money as a coach include:

1. Offering one-on-one coaching to individuals
2. Creating special VIP days to accelerate the transformation
3. Presenting online courses or in-person workshops to groups
4. Setting up group coaching programs
5. Running mastermind groups 
6. Managing membership programs
7. And selling evergreen courses

By choosing one or more of these methods, you can create a coaching business that isn’t just a hobby but a profitable business.

It’s not too late to recession-proof your coaching business.

Even in the best of times it can be challenging to build and grow a coaching business.

And 2020 has not exactly been the best of times.

We don’t want to suggest that challenges never happen, in fact, they do. ALL THE TIME!

But many coaches have seen more challenges this year than in an average year. 

It’s not too late to take some key steps that will help you refocus and recession-proof business for years to come.

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur.

Review your Financials

Wait! No, don’t go yet. I know, you probably didn’t get into the coaching business because you love numbers. 

Stay with us though because this is a really important step.

Skipping this could be the difference between a recession-proof business and one that can’t withstand the storm.

You didn’t start a coaching business to spend all your time looking at financials and figuring out the best ways to manage your business money. 

In fact, the coaches we work with often find this one of their least favorite tasks (and that’s why we have bookkeepers as part of the Virtual A Team). 

But more often than not, we see clients who are avoiding this dreadful task, and as a result, their business is hemorrhaging money.

Find the small bleeds

Odds are, you signed up for an array of business or office management type tools along the way. And odds are even better that you are no longer using at least one of them. 

Business management programs or subscriptions are a very common area to a financial bleed. 

Maybe your fax machine broke 6 years ago and you didn’t realize you’re still paying extra for a fax line in your home office.

Or maybe you’re paying for networking membership but you’re not able to attend the meetings. 

Small bleeds. Ones that are easily overlooked but add up to a fairly large hemorrhage of financial resources.

Here are some of the most common monthly or annual fees we are paying for in our businesses:

• Software as a service (SaaS) tools - these are things like social media scheduling apps, calendar booking tools, project management tools, website maintenance, etc…

• Learning programs - these might include memberships to online learning tools like Lynda.com or specific membership programs with coaches.

• Phone lines - are you paying for an unnecessary landline or too much data?

• Ads - if you have Facebook or other ads running that aren’t serving you the results you need, maybe now is the time to reevaluate those expenses.

For more information about which home office expenses can be tax-deductible, check out this article from NerdWallet. 

Take some time to review all of your monthly and annual expenses. 

• Which ones are you no longer using? Unsubscribe from them as soon as possible. 
• Are there some that could be doing double duty or just happen to be too much for what you need? Consolidate where feasible. 
• Do any of them just not fit your big goals, even if they are still being used? Decide if they are truly worth the expense.

Review Programs and Services

After reviewing what money is going out, take a look at all the ways you bring money in; your programs and services.

Most coaches will start out with somewhat of a “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” kind of plan to get stuff out there. 

If this was you, it’s ok. You’re not alone. 

But if you want to recession-proof your business it’s time to review what you’re offering and determine if each program or service still aligns with your bigger goals and vision. 

If you’ve never worked through a clear strategy for your business and products, it might be the time to do that. 

• What does your funnel look like?
• What does the client's experience look and feel like at each touchpoint?
• How are you moving prospects along their journey with you and leading them to your higher ticket services?

Having a strategy will ensure that you’re offering products and services that tie together.

When you are intentional about the cohesiveness of all your offerings it positions you as the go-to source for whatever it is that you do.

Refine Your Brand

We recently worked with a client who put out a new “group coaching” program every 2 or 3 months depending on what the current events dictated. 

Unfortunately, it left her with no identifiable niche. 

Her programs ranged from stress management to relationship coaching.

And while she had great information on each focus area, because she didn’t pick a lane so-to-speak, people weren’t entirely clear on what it is that she has to offer. 

You want to be top-of-mind for your clients when someone is asking them for a referral or is in need of what you have to offer.

If You Sell Seashells...

For example, you want your audience to be able to say, “Oh, Susie? Yeah, she sells seashells by the seashore!” 

With a focused niche and a well defined personal brand for your coaching business, your clients will immediately think of you when someone they know is asking for the best place to buy seashells. “Why at the seashore with Susie of course!” 

One of our expert strategists sat down with her and worked out a plan to use 3 of her existing programs to build towards her signature coaching program. 

A recession-proof business is one that can easily sway when the wind blows. 

And the current events have been a bit breezy, right? 

So we helped her build a marketing plan that would be effective while honoring her desire to respect current events. And set her up to weather future storms. 

We discovered that her programs didn’t need to change all that much, we simply needed to adjust her marketing to convey a different tone or emphasis.

Hone Your Marketing

• What programs do you have now? Write them all down and see how they work together. If they aren’t working together to grow your business, they are working against each other.

• Which ones do you need to toss? Are there any that can be tweaked for a better fit? What new ones do you need to create to fill in the gaps?

Clean Up Systems

We have a client whose primary business is helping other business owners become more profitable. 

She recently added more hours to her package with us for the express purpose of focusing on a strategy to recession-proof business. She knew that she needed better, more efficient systems.  

Now, we know you might be thinking, “I don’t have any systems in my business.” We hear that often. 

People often equate systems with large corporations but systems come in many shapes and sizes. For example, if you:

• Use Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Active Campaign or another email marketing platform ~ you have a system.

• If you have a certain way of responding to requests via email ~ you have a system.

• The way in which you prioritize how you spend your day ~ that's a system.

• That certain way you manage your social media ~its a system.

• And even the fact that you only schedule certain types of appointments on certain days ~ yup, it’s a system. 

Focus on Function

Systems can be physical, using paper and pencil, digital, or automated. 

For example, if you move emails around in your email folders as needed. You have a manual system.

If you have set up rules so that emails from a particular sender land in a designated folder, you’ve automated that system. 

Just from the example above you can see how the click-and-drag method might not be the best way to go about doing things especially when you have a lot of emails coming in. 

Better systems can help you increase your own personal productivity. And when you, the revenue generator, are more productive you’re able to focus on more revenue.

If you are working with a team, better systems can help your team function more optimally and save you money in the long run.

Increasing revenue and saving money is a powerhouse way to effectively recession-proof your business.

Connect, Relate, and Align

When everything is smooth sailing we can easily get caught up in our normal program engagement with our clients. 

It’s easy to forget to get to know them as people, not just clients.  

But in our current shifting environment people will most likely be looking for more. 

• Interactions are at a distance now which means people will be naturally craving deeper connections. 

• And with our uncertain economy, they will be more selective about where, and with whom, they spend their hard-earned dollars. 

They want like-minded relationships with businesses that make them feel special. 

Know How to Attract Your Tribe

Set aside a few extra minutes with your clients. Be intentional about being ‘in the moment’ with people you come in contact with in daily life. 

The offshoot of really getting to know your existing clients is the ability to create better programs. 

You will get more insight into the personality and identity of your ideal client; what attracts them and what could turn them away. 

For example, terms like Boss Base or Fempreneur may be offensive to some individuals but may speak loudly and proudly to others.

You’ll also be better able to create a strong identity for your business.

Now is a great time to recession-proof your business by building relationships.  

Consider Payment Options

If your business can afford to, figure out some creative payment options for your clients that also may be struggling financially. 

Here are some creative ideas some of our clients have been using to recession-proof business.

Pay What You Can

Add a “Pay What You Can” option to group programs and trainings.

Don’t be afraid of having people pay less than you normally charge for a program.

You may find you get more people to register with a flexible payment option than would have without any sort of discount.

This concept also allows you to avoid the “discount” mentality since your focus is on continuing to provide valuable services to as many as possible.

Skip a Payment

Take a cue from some of the big insurance companies.

If a client comes to you and needs to skip a payment, and that doesn’t cost you a lot of money to do so, consider allowing this to happen.

One missed payment is better than losing the whole client.

Add Alternative Payment Options

Perhaps you’ve never included credit card payments before.

Now is a great time to add this service so you can make it easier for clients to continue with your services.

You may also want to consider bartering for things you're needing. 

Be Flexible

When you can work with clients and be willing to be flexible in light of the times, you are more likely to build raving fans that will be with you long after the recession ends.

Don’t go into debt to keep a client but consider what you can do to help them out.

Recession-proof Business

We never want to think about having to tighten our belts and refocus our businesses because that takes us away from our primary focus, helping people. However, it’s a lot like the analogy goes, 

"In the event of an emergency, please put on your oxygen mask before assisting others."

The best ways to refocus your coaching business and build a recession- proof business are to:

• Review your financials
• Review your programs and services
• Clean up systems
• Get connected 
• Consider payment options.

When you can invest some time in taking these steps, you’ll build a stronger, more stable business for years to come.

Has this ever happened to you while on your entrepreneurial journey?

You see a great subject line, click through, and spend time reading the article only to discover that it's way too basic or far too advanced for you.

Frustrating, right? I’ve often felt the same way!

And then, recently, it became super obvious how often this happens. Let me tell you what I mean...

Before social distancing hit, my husband and I began planning a cross-country RV trip. It was to be our first.

I was so excited; we both love to travel!

We’ve sat idly by the last several years watching the annual RVing adventures of my sister-in-law and her husband https://millerluckycharm.blogspot.com/.

We decided we were done being jealous. It was time to give it a try for ourselves.

Before rushing out to spend a good chunk of our savings on a rig, we decided it would be a good idea to rent for the first trip just to make sure the RVing life is really something for us. 

We were going to fly to Minneapolis, pick up the RV, and then stop at as many interesting places as we could along the route back home to Arizona.

We booked the RV, jumped up and down like little kids a few times, and then sat down to plan our adventure.

We started strong. How hard can this be, right? We’ve planned tons of trips. But the further along we got the more we discovered things we definitely didn’t know. 

I Just Want MY Golden Nugget

Who knew there are length restrictions on certain highways? The pros tell ya not to drive more than 330 miles a day but that sometimes gets you driving in circles to reach some of your top destinations.

And it turns out there is a really important difference between black and grey water. Not to mention something known as dry docking; we thought that was boat storage - not so much.

One delivery pizza, a large veggie tray, a few Moscow Mules, and 9 hours later our original jumping up and down enthusiasm had turned into more of an ‘Eeek…we might have bitten off more than we can chew’ feeling.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 my husband and I had to cancel our inaugural RV trip. But I’m so grateful for the experience of planning that trip. Because in the process I had an epiphany.

The Epiphany

As I was researching, I was running across articles with "way above my novice head" information and then others that left me saying, “Yes. I know how to pack a suitcase. Thank you. I’m way past that."

I was spending too much time reading through content desperately searching for the golden nugget of information that applied to me.

In my frustration, I thought, “I just want one website that says” 

• If you’re a beginner, click here.
• Got a few trips under your belt, click here.
• RV every year? Click here.

I wanted a site that offered me the ability to find content applicable to where I was at in my RV-life journey.

That got me thinking more. It wasn’t restricted to this RV thing. I felt that way whenever I wanted to learn how to do just about anything from how to use Photoshop to creating an online membership program! It's certainly been something I've noticed on my own entrepreneurial journey.

The Struggle Is Real

This is the information overload age. We get so much thrown at us from every direction.

Being the productivity expert that I am I pondered on how much precious time we are all spending while we struggle to consume content that is either way over our head, or stuff we already know.

And then it hit me…does Virtual A Team content do that? 

Calling a meeting

I called a team meeting and asked our experts, “Do you think we help our clients use their time more productively by guiding them to content that applies to where they are in their personal entrepreneurial journey?”

Collectively we decided the answer was no, we don’t. We all agreed that it is frustrating to spend time reading an article only to realize at the end there was nothing in it that was applicable to us.

Let the brainstorming begin! The team was invigorated by the challenge and felt like this could be a game-changer for our clients and subscribers. 

We went back through blog posts since the beginning of Virtual A Team time. We publish blogs weekly that answer your questions about:

• Growing your business
• Marketing
• Personal growth
• Productivity
• Sales
• Social media marketing
• Management
• Building a team
• And of course, outsourcing

We answer critical who, what, when, where, and why questions.  Lots of how-to tips. ‘Are you ready to implement this?’ tips and, ‘these are the best tools out there’ tips.

But we realized that one size does not fit all.

Just like the difference between myself, a novice RV enthusiast, and my well-seasoned RVing sister-in-law, Virtual A Team has clients in the early stages of their business journey and others who are much further along in building. And both are searching for their respective ‘click here’ buttons.

It was so clear to me and the team what needed to happen. We needed to become the kind of resource like the one I was searching for.

We set out to build something that would help our readers easily find the content that meets them where they’re at in their entrepreneurial journey.

KNOWING YOUR STARTING POINT

Are you ready? Ready to hear what Virtual A Team built? We believe it is going to help inform and educate you in the best possible way.

Ok, it all starts with knowing where you’re at on the entrepreneurial journey map.

Rest Stop 1: “I’m going!”

You’ve decided to embark on your journey. You grab your backpack, fill it full of your dreams, and set out to revolutionize the world. You’re building and creating your framework. You know there is growth potential here, but you’re most likely struggling to know just where to start. There are so many decisions and you don’t know where to get help, or possibly in what areas you could use some help.

Rest Stop 2: “I can do this!” 

You’ve gained some experience and tools. Your backpack can no longer hold everything, so you’ve upgraded to a duffle bag. It’s full of lessons learned, new systems, connections, and knowledge that is helping you continue your travel toward huge success. The future's looking bright and full of opportunities. But you’re feeling the weight of the bigger bag. You start thinking, “Yikes! I could use some help.”

Rest Stop 3: “Are we there yet?” 

It’s been a tough journey and there is a lot more to carry now. You tried holding on to the heavy bag but soon realized you couldn’t carry that alone. You’ve tossed that duffle bag to the curb in exchange for the helpful rolling suitcase with pivoting wheels. You’ve lightened your load. You’re walking tall and can see your destination again. You’ve given away a few hats allowing you to spend more time in your zone of genius.

Rest Stop 4: “Go ME!” 

After leaving the last stop you realized that if you could lighten your load even more, you could go that much further. You gave away more hats and the tasks that were draining your energy. You’ve offloaded enough that you can continue your journey carrying only a briefcase. You have a team. You’ve tested and proven that you have what it takes to grow a successful business and the results show. You have more time to focus on new ideas and passions while supporting the teams that will keep the business traveling towards huge success.

To find out what Rest Stop you’re at, take the quiz …

Your goals may be interfering with your success!

Imagine that it’s the new year, or a milestone birthday, or some other reason that causes you to reflect on your direction in life. Determined to make a positive change, you sit down to write out what you actually want to accomplish…

I want to:

• Lose 40lbs.
• Pay off all my debt.
• Spend more time with family and friends.
• Have a successful business.

Most goal setting programs talk about focusing on each area of your life so you write a goal for each. But then something comes up and one goal after another starts to slip away. Another year has gone by and you are still stuck in the same place you were before.

Is it possible that the goals you have set for yourself are actually getting in the way of your own success? Hmm, interesting thought.  If you have more than one goal that you are working on achieving at the same time, the answer could be yes.

Now what?

You see, every goal we set has a list of decisions we have to make in order to achieve that goal. Sometimes those decisions will take you towards achieving one goal but away from achieving another.

When you attempt to have it all at the same time, sometimes you get none of it. Therefore, it’s important to have a clear idea of what your goals are and what the extenuating consequences (both positive and negative) might be if you reach that goal.

Write them down

Most people don’t set goals at all. In fact, only 3% of people have written goals. It might be fine to have a goal that you don’t write down if you have a singular goal and you base every decision on whether it moves you closer or further away from achieving that goal.  

Usually, though, if you have a singular goal in mind and you haven’t taken the time to work through the entire goal-setting process, you also aren’t making every decision that leads you to your success.

There’s no way around it. When you are focused on achieving your goal, you are sacrificing something else. The key is whether or not you are deciding what to sacrifice. Having multiple goals means making far more sacrifices than having one focused goal.

Which one?

Right now you probably have goals for your business or professional life, your family, your finances, health and fitness, and community, just to name a few. Let’s look at some examples again:

Business – Make x amount of money.
Family – Spend more time with children and spouse.
Finances – Pay off debt.
Health/Fitness – Lose x lbs.
Community – Volunteer at least x hours per month.
On the surface, these all look like great goals.  The challenge comes in when you start to outline how you will actually achieve each of these goals.

The Marathon or the Hubby?

One year, I set a goal to train for and run a half marathon. That same year, I had a goal to spend more time with my spouse.

Because of a variety of reasons, the ideal time of day for me to go on my training runs was around 6 AM in the morning whether it was a weekday or a weekend.

And my husband is a night owl. At that time, we spent an hour most nights of the week sitting in the hot tub catching up on the day and spending quality time together. But this meant I wasn’t getting to bed until 11:30 or 12.

Oh, and I do NOT function on little sleep.

When this first started coming up, I was having to choose between spending evening time with hubby or getting up early enough to train. In order to achieve one goal, I was having to sacrifice another.

Do You have Dueling Goals?

There is a very good possibility that, in order to make more money in your business, you must first invest more into the business.  This could put you further into debt, which would be contrary to your financial goal of paying off debt.

In addition, despite the fads of the “Four Hour Work Week” all highly successful business people put in long hours most days of the week/month. If your focus and attention is required on your business 14 to 16 hours a day in order to increase the amount of money your business brings in, it leaves less time to spend with your family or in your community.

By making decisions that first focus on your business goals and then on your family goals and then on your… you are ultimately taking the focus away from the other goals in that moment.

Oregon Trail?

Focusing on multiple goals is much like saying you want to visit Oregon, California, Main and Florida on the same family vacation.  

You set out for Oregon but then realize that the next road will more easily lead to Florida so you take it. Then you get to another interchange that says Florida – 500 miles, Maine – 250 miles so you decide to head off to Maine.  

Ultimately, you’ve spent your entire vacation driving around aimlessly without seeing any of your destinations.

Action Step

A better way to create the success you want to achieve is to rank your goals. For example, you might place the most emphasis on your business goals, knowing that making more money may ultimately lead to achieving some of your other goals as well.  

Here’s an example:

#1) Business – Make x amount of money.
#2) Health/Fitness – Lose x lbs.
#3) Family – Spend more time with children and spouse.
#4) Finances – Pay off debt.
#5) Community – Volunteer at least x hours per month.


Now that you have ranked your goal priorities, you can set about creating your action plans.  First work on the action plan for your primary goal. Once you have completed that, work on an action plan for your secondary goal.  

Here’s the key, though.  As you work on all subsequent goals, you MUST ask yourself this question:

Will this action interfere with any of the higher ranking goals I have set?

If the answer is yes, then that is an action that will get in the way of your ultimate success. You can then alter or cut the action from your action plan.  Can’t come up with any action steps that won’t interfere with higher ranking goals? You may have to consider rewriting or eliminating that goal for the time being.

If I cancel my fitness club membership to get out of debt, will it interfere with my goal to lose weight?

You may want to focus on saving  money in other ways if you can’t find alternative solutions to exercising without the use of a fitness club.

Are you ready to set your one goal but wondering which one to choose?

I’ve created a Goal Setting Worksheet to help you determine the right goals for you.  

Conclusion

It’s important to be intentional with your goals. Focus on prioritizing them so that you can make more effective decisions. Those decisions will lead to better success.

Just imagine if the worst thing we fought over was when to start playing the holiday music and decorating the stores! I think the world might just be OK.

So, are you the kind that throws up the tree shortly after Halloween or do you prefer to let the turkey have his day? 

Yep, it’s that time of year. People and businesses alike begin prepping for the holiday season. From parties and gatherings to holiday specials and marketing, there is so much more to do during this season.

Stores are full of people with crying babies and carts parked in the aisles, missing their owners. Every weekend, I look at my calendar and see the blocks filled in with events and parties and gatherings.

I personally feel very overwhelmed this time of year. It’s an outgoing introvert’s worst nightmare. Getting to meet people and learn about who they are is wonderful. Coming home to fall into my couch and wonder when I’ll get to work on my business isn’t.

However, with a little preparation, I know that I can handle this busier-than-normal season. In addition, I can use the time to prepare for an AWESOME kick-start to the new year.

How to Prepare Your Business (and yourself) for the Holidays.

As solopreneurs, it’s important to consider and focus on five key areas when preparing your business for the holidays.

• Personal/Family Time
• Marketing
• Operations
• Year End Review
• New Year Strategizing/Planning

When you take time to carefully consider each of these areas, you will have an effective game plan for staying on top of the chaos of the season.

Personal/Family Time

Yep, I put personal/family time first. It’s often the thing we focus on by default but with the least amount of attention actually given to it. We have a lot of extra tasks this time of year.

• Cleaning
• Decorating
• Shopping
• Hosting guests
• Attending parties
• Wrapping
• Sending cards
• UN-decorating...

Most of these things we find ourselves doing because, well, we are expected to. Something gets pushed aside to make room for these extra chores. Unfortunately, that something isn’t always the best something. It might be your health and exercise plan and you end up starting the new year feeling fat and lazy!

Or it might be your business planning and you start the new year behind the proverbial eight ball. Rather than starting off the year running, you find yourself scrambling to get things going.

This year, take a moment to pause and plan out the next several weeks. The time is now to do this. Here are some tips to help.

Tip #1 – Plan early

What will your holiday expectations look like this year? When you know what you will and won’t commit to, you can better plan way ahead.It’s not too late to start planning. And you can always keep this one in mind for NEXT year.

Tip #2 – Shop early

Don’t wait till after Thanksgiving to start your shopping. Ideally, make a list and start shopping in the summer. Always be on the lookout for that unique, wonderful gift idea, buy it, wrap it and put it away with a removable note as to what it is (or take a picture before wrapping) and who it’s for. While it might be well past summer, you can start now.

Tip #3 – Growth or Reflection?

Is the holiday season a busy time of year for your business? Then it is a period of growth. Plan to let go of other things so you can focus on that growth. Does business slow down in the last quarter? Then it is a time for reflection and planning. How will you grow your business in the new year? What can you do to set up your marketing and other growth ideas now?

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating Here for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur

Tip #4 – Don’t try to keep up with the Griswald's

Whether it is the amount of money you spend on gifts or how well your home is decorated for the holidays, this is definitely not the time to compare what you are doing to what those around you are doing. Decide on your own level of festivities and be OK with that.

Source: American Research Group

Tip #5 – Don’t over commit

We tend to want to be able to do it all. Decide in advance how much is too much and be OK saying no to things that don’t fully serve you and your goals.

One year, my house went undecorated because it was going to just be my husband and me. I LOVE to decorate for the holidays but felt that the full day of cleaning and decorating before and the day of un-decorating after was not worth the investment of time. So I chose to skip it.

Tip #6 – Let go!

This time of year is not the best to plan things that can be done at other times of the year. For example, don’t plan your routine doctors and dentist appointments during November and December. Decide the car doesn’t need to get washed. And your dry cleaning might be able to wait until January. What things are required and what things can wait in your personal and business life? Choose carefully.

Tip #7 –  Take time for you

It seems like the LAST thing you will have time to do with all of that chaos is take time out for yourself. However, if you don’t, your body will for you. There’s a reason many of us experience more colds and flus this time of year and it isn’t because of a widespread virus. It DOES have something to do with more stress, less exercise, and crappy eating that all affect our immune system.

Marketing

Whether you are all in and this is the busiest time of year or your business goes a little quiet, this is still a great time to do some marketing.

For health coaches, this is a prime time of year to start focusing on new year’s resolutions and healthy eating tips all holiday season.

Business coaches might start to market plans for New Year’s Goals and Planning programs.

Life Coaches might talk about new year’s resolutions and healthy personal goals.

You might not be selling a program or system during the next several weeks, but priming your audience at a time that they are aware of their pain is an excellent way to prepare them for your January sale or promotion.

Create a Marketing Plan

Prepare your marketing materials as far in advance as possible. Nailing down a concrete plan will help you with your overall strategy.

Create a marketing plan now to includes:

• Social media posts
• Email newsletters
• Physical greeting cards

Be a Resource, Not a Sales Pitch

Unless you have a very clear sale going on, use this time to be a source for great information. Constant Contact suggests offering advice and tips to make it through the holidays. You can offer advice on shopping, staying stress-free, minimizing debt or setting goals for the new year.

Consider Going Charitable

While you may not want to run a sale, it might be a great time of year to select a charity that is near and dear to your heart and sends a positive message about your brand. Offer to donate a certain percentage of your proceeds to this charity for every sale made during the holiday season.

Be Careful of the Grinch

Avoid using holiday terms that may offend others unless it’s part of your authentic brand. If you proudly wish people a Merry Christmas, then it works for your brand to celebrate the holiday in the full spirit you intend. However, if your business is more of the Happy Holidays sort, you may want to avoid using the term Christmas in your marketing.

Keep it simple

Pick one marketing plan and stick to it. Until you are ready to hire an entire marketing team to manage different promotions, keep things as simple as possible.

Think Outside the Wrapped Box

Don’t do the same old thing. Black Friday sales are overdone. People are tired of them and they are spending their money on things that will most likely go to someone else.

Get creative with your marketing. Some ideas might include:

• Advent program where you give 24 freebies away leading up to Christmas (if it’s within your authenticity to use a religious concept).
• Hosting a virtual holiday party in your Facebook group. (Hint, I'm throwing one of these on my Facebook group if you want to check it out.)
• Or a 15 Days of Thanksgiving Giveaway.

Settle on one idea or concept and build upon that. Next year, if all went well, you can consider adding another.

Operations

Most solopreneurs don’t think much about operations. Operations are things like your workflows, systems, and processes. Some of these might be physical, like your computer and cell phone. Others are more general, like the process used to invoice clients.

A good way to prepare your business for the holidays is to consider your current operations.

Is there anything you can scale back for the season? As solopreneurs, this might happen naturally if your business slows down. It’s not like you have employees looking to take a vacation.

Is there anything that can be improved? The slow down for the holidays might be a great time to reflect on your current systems and make a plan for the new year to implement strategic improvements.

This brings me to the next point.

Year End Review

The Year End Review is an opportunity to reflect on how the current year went. I typically plan this activity for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I ask questions like:

• Did you meet your goals?
• What went wrong? How can you prevent those things from happening again?
• What went right? How can you make sure more of that happens in the new year?

A couple of years ago, I wrote a “recipe” for how to complete a year end review and begin planning for the new year. It’s super simple but not always easy.

If you are coming into a super busy season, you may want to do this in the Summer instead. Just because it’s called the “Year End” doesn’t mean it has to be done then.

Strategize and Plan

Once you’ve completed your year end review, it’s a great time to start focusing on your strategy and goals for the next year. Get out your goal planner (or borrow this one) and get to work.

The key is to know you are setting time aside to do this. If you have it floating in the back of your mind, you won’t get “around tuit”. It may feel like just another thing on your already bursting to-do list for this time of year but the investment will be well worth your time.

Take time now to prepare yourself and your business for the next several weeks. You’ll be glad you did.

Conclusion

The best way to prepare your business for the holidays is to have a plan. A great plan will reduce stress and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

What is it with the “Why”? We hear everyone talking about it, yet we can’t buy it on Amazon, so what’s up with the “Why”? Meshell Baker has lived the lavish life in corporate and had this “dream job” but she was bored with her life. She didn’t love anything that she sold, so she wasn’t living her dream.  

Purpose versus Passion: Everyone has a purpose. Most people don’t find their purpose until later in life and it changes throughout their life.  Passion leads to purpose, so if you are ever stuck on trying to figure out your purpose, find your passion and it will lead you there.

Vision vs Goal: Your vision allows you to step outside your comfort zone and develop the gifts that reside inside you. A goal is something you already have a strategy for and you know how you can do that.

Start facing your fear and you will start to see your “why”. I think that’s great advice. I know that sometimes I think about having different goals and how to prioritize them.  Which one is more important right now? Time, health, family, finances, work… whatever the case may be.  And these have changed a lot for me over the past few years too. That’s why you have to be flexible and aware of these changes, learn how to regroup and find that primary goal.

Are you living “the dream” or are you living your dream?

Connect with Meshell

Check out her website!

Are you finally ready to fight perfectionism and conquer delegating?  Congratulations and welcome to Perfectionists Anonymous! This is the place to go when you know you struggle with this often debilitating DIS-EASE that prevents you from accomplishing your goals.

Are you feeling surprised to find out you are a perfectionist? Maybe you believed you just had high standards. The truth is, those standards cross over into perfectionism when work is taking far longer than it should. Other projects and tasks aren’t getting completed because of the standards you are setting up.

Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, your perfectionism is likely holding you back from your true potential.

"Great things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people." – Steve Jobs

As a solopreneur, you can only afford to be a perfectionist to a point before it becomes a barrier to your growth.

When you are starting out in business, you can handle your client load while still having time to market and sell. Then you start to notice marketing and sales drop off as you have more clients to work with. As this happens, new prospects dwindle and existing client opportunities dry up.

You now have to start marketing and selling again in order to refill your pipeline.

This is the wave effect. When you are only one person, you have a finite amount of time. If you don’t choose to fight your perfectionism and conquer delegating, you will be trapped in this wave of business never truly getting ahead.

The easy thing to do would be to tell you to suck it up and let go of your perfectionism. That’s a lot like telling a drug addict to stop using drugs. It’s just not that simple.

What tools can we arm you with to help you fight perfectionism?

Making the Most of Your Mindset

The first step to fight perfectionism will always be in your thinking. While we can’t change your thoughts overnight, we can arm you with some strategies that may help you think a little different about your “high standards”.

Evaluate Your Priorities

Take a look at the following phrases and evaluate what is most important to you.

• Having full control over every aspect of your business or growing your business to greater heights?
• Producing an absolutely perfect image or having time for friends and family?
• Spending hours on a project or task or taking time for your own mental and physical health?

Perfectionism often leads to depression. It creates an environment where the perfectionist can’t sleep, is in a constant state of anxiety and never has time to relax.

Take some time to evaluate if this is what you truly want in your life. While it may not be enough, it can be the start of letting go.

Strive for Excellence, Not Perfection

I used to say, go for “good enough” and then I realized that was never going to be “good enough” for a perfectionist.

There’s a saying that’s been going around for some time. No one knows who first wrote it but there are some truly shining thought shifts that may help you fight perfectionism. I’ve highlighted my favorites.

Perfection is being right.  Excellence is being willing to be wrong.

Perfection is fear.   Excellence is taking a risk.

Perfection is anger and frustration.   Excellence is powerful.

Perfection is control.   Excellence is spontaneous.

Perfection is judgment.  Excellence is accepting.

Perfection is taking.   Excellence is giving.

Perfection is doubt.  Excellence is confidence.

Perfection is pressure.  Excellence is natural.

Perfection is the destination.  Excellence is the journey.

-author unknown

Stop Comparing

One of the things perfectionists are VERY good at is comparing themselves to others. They always manage to find the person that just can’t be beat and use that for their basis of comparison.

• If that guy can create webinar funnels with 15 emails in a sequence, then I can too.
• When that chick kicks out well planned, articulate and comprehensive articles, then I will too.
• If those entrepreneurs have websites with all the glitz and glamour, then I can too.

What our Polly perfectionist often chooses to ignore is the fact that these individuals are not doing it alone. They have large teams and larger budgets. It’s not a fair comparison.

The business world is not like the academic world was. You can’t look at a list of exam scores and see that you did better than anyone else.

Remember, shifting your mindset is no easy task. It won’t happen like flipping a light switch. It takes time. What then, are some things you can do to help fight your perfectionism in the meantime?

Set Realistic Goals

There’s a lot of talk these days of setting a BHAG “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”. For perfectionists, that’s like a dose of their drug of choice! Perfectionists need to scale back and set realistic goals instead. If goals are too ambitious, they’ll never be achieved by a perfectionist.

Let's say your goal is to have a 10 page highly detailed website completed within 2 months. Maybe a more realistic goal is to have a 5 page moderately detailed website launched. You can always schedule some time to improve the results and add to the original after your official launch.

Set Deadlines

Set a drop-dead deadline for when the work will be done. Without deadlines, perfectionists will come up with endless changes and revisions. This is where setting deadlines comes in handy. If you know you need to launch a webinar series, start promoting its release date now. It becomes a lot more challenging to back out when someone else is waiting on you.

Pro Tip: Having an assistant can also help with deadlines. Your assistant can help keep you on track and accountable.

Focus on the Good

Perfectionists spend a lot of time thinking about what’s wrong with their work. Spend more time focused on what is good about your work. And don’t say “NOTHING!”

Get some help in this area by getting someone else to review your stuff. They can go through it with a fresh, non-perfectionist, set of eyes. They can help you truly evaluate what is excellent (there’s that word again) and what needs improvement.

Conquering Delegation

Once you’ve begun to fight your battle with perfectionism, it’s time to conquer delegating. How does someone fight procrastination and conquer delegation without getting thrown right back into their addiction?

Start With Small Stuff

You have to start somewhere. Start with one or two small projects. While most Virtual Assistants and VA providers require minimum packages, there are some, like Virtual A Team that have no minimums. This makes it perfect for getting your feet wet and learning how to trust your team.

Some ideas for small projects include:

• Entering business card data
• Doing topic research
• Filtering (but not deleting) emails
• Organizing file storage
• Data entry (business cards or contact lists)

Once you have some evidence that your new assistant can be trusted, you can slowly begin to add more projects and tasks.

Be Willing to Train

In his book, Procrastinate on Purpose, Rory Vaden talks about the 30x rule. He suggests that we spend 30 times the amount of time it takes us to complete a task to train someone else to do that same task.

For example, if a task typically takes you 5 minutes to complete, you should plan on spending 150 minutes training someone else to do that task.

This may seem like an exceedingly LARGE amount of time and not that great of a time saver. I mean, you are trying to delegate to have LESS to do, not MORE.

Let’s say the task takes you 5 minutes a day, every working day. And let’s say you work, on average, 250 days a year. Your investment of 150 minutes will free up 1100 minutes of your time over the course of the year.

It is worth it, in the end, to make the upfront investment to properly train your team. When doing so, it reduces the frustration of unacceptable work.

Communication

There’s nothing more powerful than communicating with your team. I’ve been in this business now for a few years and have seen it happen many times when miscommunications resulted in mistakes, errors or just unacceptable quality.

And, unless you are an excellent wordsmith, email just doesn’t deliver communication as well as a conversation.

Embrace phone calls, Zoom or Skype check-ins or even services like WhatsApp to send voice messages.

Be willing to clarify and explain things in different ways if necessary. Be willing to understand the other individual’s learning and communication style.

When you can improve communication, you can conquer delegation challenges.

Failure Isn’t Final

When you delegate, there will be times when things don’t go well. Whether it’s a miscommunication or technology break down, things come up and tasks or projects will not be done as expected.

Accepting this as a normal part of the delegation process can help to alleviate the anxiety related to these experiences.

I once had one of my clients struggling to connect with her assigned Director of Stuff You Don’t Have Time to Do (yes, that’s their title but I usually just call them Directors). I was finally able to connect with this Director and it wasn’t good. She truly sounded very drunk. I have no concrete proof of this fact but had to let her go when this happened more than once.

My clients were more than understanding when I was fully transparent about the situation and made every effort to step in and fix whatever needed to be fixed.

Pro Tip: One of the benefits of Virtual A Team is having that back up in place when someone goes on vacation or gets, um, sick…

Embrace the idea that failures will occur. As long as they do not become a habit and you have done your due diligence to properly train the individual, it doesn’t have to be the end of an effective relationship.

Create Your Must-haves

Have you ever watched an episode of House Hunters on HGTV? I love that show. At the beginning of each episode, the couple goes through a list of their must-haves.

• Open concept
• Garage
• Big yard
• 4 bedrooms
• 3 bathrooms
• Close to downtown
• Not too noisy

As they begin their search, we start to discover what their TRUE must-haves are vs. what was just a “nice-to-have”.

When delegating work to your team, consider what your must-haves are as well.

• Attention to detail
• Big picture thinker
• Highly creative
• Great technical skills

Sometimes your expectations will compete with one another.

I had a client who was very particular about wanting a Director located in the same time zone as she was. I did happen to have a Director in her time zone but the Director didn’t meet some of the other qualifications the client needed. I would not have suggested this Director to this client in most cases. The time zone factor was a convenience, a nice-to-have, but the client listed it as a must-have and it ended up trumping other criteria that I felt was more important.

While we are working through some of the resulting challenges, it hasn’t been as smooth as most of my client experiences.

Establish Standards

When communicating with your team, it’s important to have a clear set of standards for them to follow. These standards should include:

• Values and beliefs,
• tone of voice,
• details like how communication occurs,
• what is considered Excellent (yep, that word again) work,
• brand standards including brand identity and client persona

Have these standards in writing so they can be shared with your team.

Work to keep these standards updated. Share them periodically. This will help to make sure everyone is on the same page.

"Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn’t go to hell if you take a day off." - Jeffrey Pfeffer

In summary, to truly fight perfectionism and conquer delegating:

1. Improve mindset and beliefs by:
   • evaluate priorities,
   • strive for excellence, not perfection,
   • stop comparing.
2. Take strategic actions to:
   • set realistic goals,
   • set deadlines,
   • focus on the good.
3. Start delegating by:
   • starting small,
   • being willing to train,
   • Working to improve communication,
   • remembering failure isn’t final,
   • creating your must-haves,
   • establishing written standards.

You deserve to delegate some of the work you do so that you can shine brighter, grow bigger and have more free time. Are you ready to get started?