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Coaching for Coaches - I'm Afraid I'll Get Ripped Off!

By Sue Painter

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Published: 20Apr2010
Word count: 699
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I attended a retreat for coaches not long ago, only to hear conversation about fear of getting ripped off. The concern was around stepping up to invest in a coaching program that required a substantial investment of money, and the statement was something like, "I'm afraid I would invest in a $10,000 or more coaching program and get gypped, just be sold a bunch of hot air." Setting aside the irony of a coach who is worried about getting ripped off by a coach, the conversation sent me pondering about the underlying fear.

Here's the thing......energy follows thought. If one holds the fearful idea that one is going to be ripped off, one is likely to enter into the program looking for exactly what the fear is. At least in part, you get what you expect. Fearful, one will hold one's self back from full out engagement and indeed, will end up ripped off by one's own actions. Here are some suggestions to keep that misfortune from happening:

* Examine your fear. Have you actually heard of someone getting ripped off in a higher-end coaching program? My bet is that putting out that concern is one way to hold yourself back from getting into a program that will, by definition, be demanding and get you out of your comfort zone.

* Are you secretly thinking that you won't follow through and thus will fail? It's hard to be rigorously self-honest sometimes. It's much easier to put the cause for failure on the other person.

* Will you invest in the program and enter it with an open heart and open mind? If you show up with doubtful energy, your ears will pick up any little thing that you can identify as a gap in the program. You will get far more out of it if your ears are open to picking up every single opportunity that is made available to you.

* Is fear of success standing in your way? What will happen when your business increases by 50%, or doubles, or triples? If you have been struggling as a coach, making 4 or low 5 figures, what will it do to your life to push that income up substantially? Will it upset the balance of power in your relationships? Will you have to step up in other ways (hiring a virtual assistant, a bookkeeping, household help)? Are you secretly fearful that you can't handle that much success?

* Do you consider yourself worth it? If you are not willing to invest in yourself as a coach, why do you expect a client to invest in you? You may tell yourself "Of course, I'm worth it." But if you won't lay the money down, you don't really believe it.

The point is, you as a coach would advise a potential client that you get out what you put in. You most often get what you expect. Why would you sabotage yourself by showing up fearful and doubtful? It's not the best energy to approach self-growth with, is it? Would you want your own client to approach working with you in this way?

Personal and professional growth that is deep enough to take your business to a much higher level will push you out of your comfort zone, ask you to look at the world differently than you do now, and require you to step up to new skills and activities you have never done before. Preparing yourself to play big takes a leap of faith. You will not know all the answers about every detail of the program ahead of time, just as you can't tell a client exactly where your coaching will take her. My best advice to coaches looking to step up their game is to enter coaching for themselves in the belief that many good things will happen rather than fearful that the program won't be what you think it should be. Let go of the need to know and control, because it limits one's growth. If you have the dream and desire to play big as a coach, find a program that makes you a little bit nervous, and jump in. It's a wonderful opportunity to practice faith in yourself and in others.

Sue Painter is a marketing therapist whose expertise is finding the dark and murky under-places that keep your business from succeeding. She develops business plans that work, and strategic marketing plans that take dead aim at your target market. You can subscribe to her Marketing Tips e-zine at http://www.confidentmarketer.com .

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