How do you create a vision for your coaching practice?
Every business needs a vision to succeed. Having a clear vision for your coaching practice helps you to plan for the future. When you know where you’re headed, it’s so much easier to make the right decisions that will help you to reach your destination.
But how can you create a vision for your coaching practice?
In this episode of my new podcast, The Mindset Coach, I’m excited to reveal some very specific steps that I usually only share with my coaching students and clients. These steps are designed to help you create a vision for your coaching practice that will compel you to take action to achieve the results you desire.
You can listen to this episode of the podcast below or keep reading…
Why you should take time to create a vision
Taking time out of your busy schedule to create a vision for your coaching practice is so important. And, I don’t mean merely thinking about your vision and not doing anything with it. You must grab a pen and put your vision down on paper or type it up on your computer. Either way, taking time to think about your vision and putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is the best way to help articulate what you want to achieve with your coaching practice.
Your vision clarifies why you’re doing what you’re doing. What type of business do you want to run as a coach? What sort of clients do you want to work with? Your vision should help answer these questions.
Steven Covey once said that starting with the end in mind or having a clear vision of your desired destination is vital if you want to achieve that end goal. Knowing where you ultimately want to be further down the line encourages you to step into the identity of the coach who has made the vision a reality.
However, unless you take the time to establish your vision for your coaching business, you will continue to be directionless. You can encourage clients to undertake different activities and serve them with great coaching sessions and courses, but without a vision, you may find yourself lost without a map.
Review your vision regularly
Your original vision for your coaching practice may change over time, which is a good thing. In the same way that your clients’ vision will change throughout different life stages, your coaching practice vision will change too.
One of the essential steps that mindset coaches take with their clients is to establish a vision about where they want to be. Their vision may reflect where they hope to end up in their personal life or their business, etc. However, coaches can become so consumed and busy serving others that they forget to consider their own vision. Your vision as a coach is just as important as your clients’ vision for their futures.
You need to clarify your vision and how you show up through your behaviours, habits, thoughts, beliefs, and values to make your vision happen. Once you have a vision for your coaching practice, remember that you must keep reviewing it. Your vision is not etched into stone. It can adapt and change with you as you and your coaching practice continue to grow and evolve.
But how can you actually create a concrete vision for your coaching practice? Here’s the step-by-step process that I use with my clients and students to help them develop a vision for their lives or businesses:
1. What is your why?
Before you can create a vision for your coaching practice, you must identify your why. Why do you want to become a coach? If you’re already a coach, ask yourself why. Don’t just jot down an answer you think is the “right” answer. Really think about that question and think about why you are or want to become a coach.
Your why is your motivation. Take time to reflect on your why. You might find that your why is different than you initially thought, and that’s okay. Your why should fill you with motivation to keep going, and it should be the reason why you want to serve others as a coach.
2. What will your role as a successful coach enable you to do?
The next question to ask yourself is what will your job as a successful coach allow you to accomplish? What impact will you have? Not just on your clients, but your friends and family too.
How will it impact your mission and purpose in the world? Knowing what you will potentially accomplish as a coach is a great way to help clarify your overall vision for your coaching practice. So, think about what your role as a successful coach will enable you to do.
3. Who do you want to work with?
When you visualise yourself coaching others, who do you see yourself working with? You don’t have to get into specific details about your ideal client avatar at this stage. Instead, think about the type of people you want to work with, in a more general sense. When thinking about who you want to serve, think about the potential outcomes they will want you to help them achieve.
Take some time on this one. After all, the people you work with as a coach are the reason why you want to wake up and start work every day. You should wake up excited to start your day and passionate about helping the people you serve. You shouldn’t dread speaking to a particular client, which is why you need to clarify who you want to work with and the type of people you want to coach.
4. What does you ideal day look like?
Next, you need to think about what your ideal day looks like as a coach. How many hours do you want to work each day? When will you work those hours? How will your family fit into your schedule?
If you have kids, will you collect your kids from school and work around that? Think about what your ideal day looks like as a successful coach when you are showing up for your clients. Consider what your typical schedule will look like and when (and where) you want to work.
5. How do you want to serve your clients best?
When creating a vision for your coaching practice, you need to think about how you want to serve your clients. This involves deciding on matters such as whether you wish to offer one-to-one coaching sessions or not. If not, will you have group sessions? If so, how many people will attend each group session?
Will you offer VIP experiences such as retreats or other offerings? Let your creative juices flow with this one and think about all the ways you want to serve your clients. You may also want to consider your energy levels here too. Are you more energetic in the morning or the evening? When are you at your best so that you can give your best to your clients?
6. What are your financial desires?
As a coach, your primary role is to serve your clients to the best of your ability. However, you also need to consider your financial desires. What do you hope to gain in terms of financial awards as a coach?
You can get specific about numbers if you like. To do this, think about your vision in terms of financial goals for the future of your coaching practice. How much do you need to cover business expenses? How much do you need to cover your lifestyle, bills, mortgage, and so on?
Try not to rush through this step in the process. Understanding your financial goals will help you to structure your coaching practice in a way that will help you to create a business that supports you financially.
When creating a vision for your coaching practice, these are some of the key steps to help you establish that vision. However, keep in mind that you may need to revisit your vision. I recommend reviewing your vision for your coaching business at least once every 12 months. If you can review it more than that, aim for once every 90 days to help keep your vision focused and aligned with your goals.
To find out more about creating a vision for your coaching practice, you can access the editable worksheet that includes all of these prompts. To download this PDF, click here.