This is a guest blog post written by George Karris. Want to contribute? Check out the 2016 publishing calendar.

In this note I want to share with you the one key limiting belief that is slowing the growth of your coaching practice. –But before I get to that, let me share a story…

Another coach and I had been asked to present to a group of entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. We were asked to each speak for 20 minutes before doing some Q&A with the audience.

As it turned out, the expected audience of 70 was actually more like 8 people, so it was a rather intimate setting and a bit of a disappointment for us in terms of turnout.

In any event, I got the opportunity to speak first. My speech was titled, “Critical Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make that Destroy their Businesses” and my counterpart’s speech was called, “The Value of Life Coaching.”

In my speech I outlined four critical errors, gave people practical advice on steps they could take in their businesses to avoid these errors and summarized by illustrating how a coach could have made a difference for me personally in a couple of situations.

My counterpart focused on how he got into coaching, his personal journey into becoming a coach and how much more balanced his life was than it had been previously.

At the end of our two speeches, nearly every single question came to me… I also had four people interested in hiring me at the end and two people who wanted to hire me (one couldn’t afford it, one became a client).

My counterpart got no interest. In fact, he later called to gripe about the fact that I hadn’t talked about coaching all that much in my presentation.

Why coaches struggle to scale

I share this story because it highlights one of the key reasons coaches struggle to grow their practices to any sort of scale. It’s because they don’t focus on adding practical value.

Many coaches subscribe to the notion that, “Everyone has all the answers within them.” I disagree.

Let’s say I’m shopping for a fitness coach because I want to get in shape. Well, if I go to a coach who believes I have all the answers the result will be me running a bit, doing some pushups and maybe a couple crunches. That’s what I know to do… and it will probably get me more fit.

Now contrast this with a coach who offers to assess my current level of fitness, create a customized fitness regimen for me and actually workout with me.  

Which coach is going to get me faster results? Obviously, it’s the second coach that is going to get me better results faster.

And make no mistake, people hire coaches for results. That is it.

Now you might think, “Yes, but the second example isn’t coaching, it’s being a personal trainer.” Well, guess what?

You can use your coaching skills just as much as in the latter situation as in the former. You can also charge more, get more referrals and grow your practice faster—all because you are getting people better results.

In other words, results is the name of the game…

The limiting belief that's slowing the growth of your coaching practice

So, if you want to grow your practice as rapidly as possible, do everything you can to get your clients results. Don’t feel like you can’t educate your clients, offer them advice or actually do work for them that helps them succeed.

Your role is to use coaching as a tool that helps your clients get the best result possible.

Now, upon reading this some of you are probably thinking that I’m “doing it wrong” or that I just don’t understand coaching.

To be honest, I was really nervous about this early on as well.

I felt like if I used my knowledge to steer my client in a certain direction, I was somehow breaking the code of what it takes to be a good coach and that clients wouldn’t own the decision if I influenced it.

Yet, over and over I heard from my clients that they were paying me for my knowledge and expertise so that I could get them a result.

Eventually, after hearing that enough I decided to let go of my rigid beliefs on what coaching is (and isn’t) and do everything I could to drive results for my clients.

The impact has been amazing. Clients no longer disappear because they know they are getting a practical result from each session and prospects are more engaged because they see just how we achieve the desired outcomes.

So, if you are looking to grow your practice, throw out the limitations that many coaching schools put on you and ask yourself:

How can I use coaching and every other skill/tool I have in my possession to drive results for clients?

You will be amazed at how fast your business grows as a result.

Have questions on how to scale your business faster? Visit www.askarealcoach.com and I would be happy to answer your question.

About George Karris

George Karris is a former corporate executive who coaches professionals on how find opportunities that balance their ambition, purpose and overall happiness. He has a track record of professional success that includes setting strategy for a $4B firm, raising millions for a startup, and leading a team of over 200 people. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and has studied positive psychology with Tal Ben-Shahar, Shawn Achor and Tony Schwartz. Connect with George on Noomii and his website.

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