The Career You'll Love » my coaching business

You should increase your prices!

Carl — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:24:40 +0000

In a moment of weakness, I was drawn into an article which proposed that coaches should raise their rates. I thought that the author might have some challenging reason for why coaches’ rates are out of sync with the perceived value.

Alas, the reasoning behind this was:

You should believe you’re worth it!!!!!!

Yeah, I was disappointed.

Sorry, folks, you can believe in yourself all day, but when it comes to getting paid, it’s the perception of your customers that matters. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling products to people, or pulling down a salary, or even asking for handouts on the street.

The fact is that if you’re going to be rewarded with more money, THEY need to believe that it’s worth it.

Now, it is true that believing in yourself is useful, because that helps you deliver more value, to communicate that value more confidently, and to ask to be compensated fairly for it.

But, sadly, I put this in the same camp as The Attraction Principle, which some to be simply that “if you believe hard enough, the universe will give you whatever you want.”

Sadly, it doesn’t seem that I live in that universe. It would appear that people mostly get rewarded for doing useful things, with great latitude regarding what “useful” might mean.

But maybe I’m too much of a realist.

The balance of optimism

Carl — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:55:22 +0000

I tend to think of myself as an optimistic guy. Despite some internal struggles and down moments, I find that it’s more fun going through life looking for opportunity more than focusing on pain.But this can get me into trouble sometimes.

As you know, I’m a small business coach. I have a small and exclusive clientele, which means they take a long time to find and sign up. It’s not uncommon for my sales cycle to be several months long. More important, most people I talk with don’t end up purchasing my services.

The result for me, internally, is that I get quite excited when it looks like someone will sign up as a client. Because I’m optimistic, I like to hope for the best.

That doesn’t always happen. Which can leave me, well, quite grumpy for awhile.

I’m trying to learn how to “hold hope lightly.” It’s a balance point of hoping, but not investing emotionally. Of realizing that either outcome is possible, even good. My internal dialog is something like this: “I’d love for this person to become a client. But it that doesn’t happen, that’s OK too, because my deeper goal is to find the people who will get huge value from my services.”

This helps to level out the emotional roller-coaster quite a bit. My wife appreciates it too.

I’d like to think that the saying about “not putting all your eggs in one basket” is a bit similar to this, especially when it comes to focusing your emotions.

Oh, by the way, I did sign a new client last week. So NOW I have a great reason to celebrate!

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Small Fish Business Coach and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with small business owners who need to create breakthroughs in achieving their business goals. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com and www.SmallFish.us.

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

Ten steps to starting your own business

Carl — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:25:38 +0000

No job? No problem! Create your own by forming a company!

OK, so it’s not that easy. But it’s not that hard either.

Why you should launch out on your own

Carl — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 02:11:26 +0000

Oh, the glory! Start your own company and achieve great fame and fortune!

OK, maybe not. Run your own business and destroy your life savings.

How do you decide?

Spending money to make money

Carl — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:51:17 +0000

The Career You’ll Love

Sponsored by Carl Dierschow’s career blog at www.Dierschow.com

Welcome to my career tips newsletter! I encourage you to pass this to anyone who might have an interest in revitalizing their career – instructions for subscribing are at the bottom.

Spending money to make money

Now that I’ve moved out of the corporate world and am running my own business, I’ve experienced a huge mindset shift. Quite simply, I now look at my life decisions – not just business – in a Return On Investment (ROI) frame.

Growing up, my schooling and activities were paid for by my parents. When I got to college, they helped me out with the first year and a half, and I paid for the rest.

But I wasn’t thinking of this as an investment of my money that would give me great returns – I wasn’t that sophisticated. To be honest, I went through college because it was expected, because I was good at it, and I looked forward to the kind of work that would give me after I graduated.

When I moved into the corporate world, any work-related expenses were generally paid by my employer. If my boss said we could afford it, great, and if not, I’d get annoyed but would comply with the constraints.

This is a dangerous mindset. You’re giving up responsibility for key decisions to other people.

When it came to personal expenses, I adopted a frugal savings philosophy taught to me by my parents, and combined with a great-paying job, we’ve done very well. I was never challenged very deeply.

Then I lost my job.

It was hard to know how to make decisions in this environment. With no income, everything was more than I could afford. So I had to switch to a different way of thinking about it: What would give me the greatest return on what I spent?

Here’s an example: I recently signed up to have a booth at a local business expo. $400. I need to have a big sign that will make a professional impression, $325. Other bits of necessary marketing paraphernalia, another $100 or so. All things considered, this is actually quite cheap – it would have been trivial for me to spend $3000 on this.

But here’s the return:

I’m making a significant impression with my target clientele that I’ve had some trouble reaching.
It looks professional and substantial, reinforcing the value I provide to clients.
If I sign just one new client out of this, I’ll pay for this entire investment in just the first month.

Of course, I have to make sure I’m not kidding myself about getting a client. But I’ve done my homework and I’d say the probability is well over 50%.

In the past, what would have held me back from this?

This is something new I’ve never done before.
There’s a risk associated with getting the return, it’s not a sure thing.
I’d be looking for other authorities to make the decision to spend money.

Here’s the challenge I’ll give to you, then: When you’re working on your next job change or career transition, what’s it worth to YOU? Not to your current employer. Not to your future employer. To you.

If you’re going to get value – in having a better life, achieving your goals, increasing your possibilities – then go ahead and spend the money and time. Don’t look for permission or help from your boss. OK, go ahead and ask for some assistance, that might help. But don’t let that hold you up.

If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com.

Connect with Carl on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com

Starting your own company

Carl — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:34:30 +0000

You might have been dreaming about starting your own company. Since I now have some experience with this, and worked with others who have launched out in this direction, I thought it might be good to let you know what I’ve learned.

The logistics of starting a company are fairly straightforward, and there’s lots of help you can get. Do your homework, hook up with seasoned advisors, and you’re set.

Read the rest on my Workbloom blog»

I’m a Small Fish!

Carl — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:29:21 +0000

I have some big news!

I have just signed up with a coaching services firm, Small Fish Business Coaching, based in Australia. This is a huge leap forward for me and my business, because I’m moving away from working totally on my own, to being in partnership with a rapidly growing group that is intent on improving the plight of small business owners, one at a time.

It also means that I’ve tightened my focus from being all businesses – really much too broad – to be on small businesses. That would typically be smaller than 50 employees or $20M in revenue.

I completed my training, I’m getting my business cards printed later today, I’m now listed on the Small Fish websites in both Australia and the US, I took care of state registration and other logistics, and I’m cranking away on spreading the word.

There’s a lot to do, but I can already see progress. This is a new, exciting phase to my career!

There’s a couple of requests I’d like to make to you:

If you’re a small business owner in Northern Colorado, or know small business owners who really want to improve the state of their business, please let me know. I have a powerful process which can help a business owner improve profits, customer satisfaction, employee motivation, and personal balance.

If you’re a business coach, and you’re looking to team up with people who have a powerful process and great marketing, then you might want to check out Small Fish. They’re looking for great coaches in the US, especially. I’d be happy to provide you an introduction and answer any questions you might have about how I selected them.

And if you want to get a copy of the Small Fish e-mail newsletter, just let me know.

Just take the plunge

Carl — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:23:52 +0000

This has been an eventful week for me and my business – a key turning point. This is the week I moved from planning to doing.

It’s scary, but it’s so wonderful to be doing what feels to be such useful activity.

It’s interesting how this switch happened inside my head. Before Christmas, I had all kinds of great excuses for not making the leap:

“I’m still investing in my professional development.”
“My plans aren’t clear yet.”
“People are going to be off on vacation.”

All true, of course, but I knew that the fundamental issue was that they were stalling techniques to give myself an “out” for not moving to action.

What changed since New Year’s is that I decided to announce to my supporters and coaches (so wonderful to be able to call upon several!) that I wanted to work on switching from planning into action. After each conversation, I came away with some concrete actions to take - that I was motivated to work on. That last part is key, because it’s what helps me to get over my fears and inertia.

This is part of the magic of coaching – that the client creates and owns the action items, it’s not about the coach giving the client things to do. Therefore, the client is motivated to follow through, and the coach can help close the loop of accountability and celebration.

I might also mention that I had my first evaluation as a coach this week – an expert listened in while I coached a colleague for half an hour, then gave a verbal and written evaluation of what I had done.

Boy, that was scary.

But in the end, my fears were much larger than the reality. I got some wonderful and supportive feedback, and had the chance to really jump in and coach at my absolute best. I’m much less scared about the second evaluation in a couple of weeks.

Are you scared to jump in and actually do what you know you need to do? Have courage, my friend!

The crisis of character

Carl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:31:30 +0000

I had a chance to attend a fantastic workshop this morning, led by the incomparable Gus Lee. Never heard of him? He’s a leader in challenging people to find and develop a core of character in their lives.

Creating that amazing personal brand

Carl — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:46:07 +0000

There’s been a lot of chatter in recent years about “your personal brand.” Even though the idea can be sometimes used in a rather cynical fashion, I’ve found it to be pretty valuable for myself.

Here’s the idea: People will formulate ideas about who you are and why you might be valuable to know (or employ). What happens if you drive that intentionally, rather than just have it happen at random?

I’ve been focusing on this idea myself for about five years now. Actually, now that I think about it, there’s been three distinct contexts that I was working on:

As a highly experienced strategic planner in the corporate environment;
As a leader of coaching inside and outside my previous employer; and
As a spiritual leader at my church.

No, I didn’t develop a fancy logo or great marketing brochure, I didn’t take out ads on TV. Instead, I became extremely clear on who I wanted to be in each of these contexts, and developed strategies for building up an image consistent with the perception I wanted to give. For example, I volunteered for a number of roles in leading coaching in the community and within my employer, and made sure that people knew my name in connection with that.

This blog, actually, is an outgrowth of that brand-building exercise, but reaching out to a much broader audience.

This “brand” had huge value for me in that company, and gives me great value for building my new business. I have a whole bunch of people who know me and their image tends to be positive. A lot of people are very generous with their help.

Do you have continuing strategies that you use for building your “brand image” to certain people, driven by a particular goal?