Breaking the Rules

disillusioned health care workers health/fitness coaching lifestyle coaching new coaches Jan 23, 2022
Shannon Conway
Breaking the Rules
8:46
 

 

 "I was of course inspired by Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde and Aretha Franklin, but my real muse was David Bowie. He embodied male and female spirit and that suited me just fine. He made me think there were no rules. But I was wrong. There are no rules -- if you're a boy. There are rules if you're a girl,"

"If you're a girl, you have to play the game. You're allowed to be pretty and cute and sexy. But don’t act too smart. Don’t have an opinion that's out of line with the status quo. You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness. And do not, I repeat do not, share your own sexual fantasies with the world. Be what men want you to be, but more importantly, be what women feel comfortable with you being around other men. 

What I would like to say to all women here today is this: Women have been so oppressed for so long they believe what men have to say about them. They believe they have to back a man to get the job done. And there are some very good men worth backing, but not because they're men -- because they're worthy. As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other's worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and enlightened by,". ~From a speech where she was accepting Billboard Magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year’ award

 

The coaching industry is essentially unregulated. 

What this means is, there are no rules, save for the ones we choose to believe are governing us. 

 

No rules. No governance. 

It’s a kind and supportive playground and full of opportunity, but it’s still difficult to get a practice to 3rd gear, because you’re building it while trying to shed all that oppression you’ve carried around for generations. 

 

No RULES, but there are some truths. 

Unregulated means it’s incumbent on you to choose the template, structure, standards, products, pricing, and path for your business—and that’s only the beginning! I came into this industry from yoga, another unregulated industry. I was familiar with trying to cut a path of logic and profit through ancient and modern information while tuning out trends and naysayers. Let my experience of templatizing those odd elements help you streamline your work. 

 

Cheat sheet for creating a dream practice in an unregulated industry where you need to break some rules.

 

  1. Overnight success will take you 1-2 years. Minimum. There is no program on earth that can give you everything you need to hit six figures in 6 months and sustain it. Creating a coaching practice takes time, effort, and devotion. 
  2. You must become a student of your practice. Coaching is a calling–it is sacred. Treat your practice with reverence. Be disciplined about it. Work on it, and in it consistently. Identify your blind spots and get support to clear them. Do things you think you cannot do all the time, ALL the time, until you achieve the goals you’ve set (see #1). 
  3.  High Ticket: You should be selling high ticket right out of the gate. Do not start at a low price point and slowly build your confidence. Start at a price point that is scary to quote, and grow from that. A) Challenging yourself is essential, and B), you need and deserve to be making good money. And you having it expands the impact you have in your family, community and the world. Claim this.  The industry is unregulated, remember? You can charge whatever you want. You just need to be able to back it up energetically. (See #2).  
  4. Irreverence and pleasure are essential. Yes, I said treat your practice with reverence just two paragraphs ago. But you need irreverence too. Tony Robbins said that people need both certainty and uncertainty to thrive in their lives. You want to be reverential and devotional toward your practice, and you need to bring your edge, your lust, your passions into it too. We are alive on this beautiful big blue marble to make lives full of ‘incandescent happiness’--a phrase I learned when I recently watched Pride and Prejudice (cried four times). Take RISKS in your work. Take risks with your clients, take risks with your SELF. You are your practice. Make your life big, fun. Make it a feast. 
  5. You will move at the speed of your pack. Get into a peloton. To get yourself to the flat road (yes, in fact I am newly into Peloton-ing, how did you know) you need a LOT of support. You need to find mentors you can trust and draft them as if you are in a mountain stage on the Tour de France. See point #1–getting it to sustainability takes 1-2 years.   

 



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