I talk about failing a lot. Whether in life or in business. Why? Because it’s inevitable to happen especially if you’re doing something completely new/following your dream/don’t have all the resources you need. I also talk about how this is a good thing. Great leaders will also echo this. Take Branson, he didn’t let Virgin Cola bring down the entire Virgin empire, no, he decides he’s going to Mars! I know he’s quite the exception but learn from these great people (mirroring is an awesome NLP technique you can use here.) They have a pretty good idea about what they’re doing. They plan to fail. They take the necessary risks to get more from their lives and they have strategies for failing. Without them, Branson could have gone completely bust! But instead, he just embarks on a bigger and better project, learning from his mistakes. I mean, that’s all we can do. None of us have it completely right/ perfect/ [insert appropriate word for you] but what we’re trying to achieve takes courage, planning and resilience.
That’s where I find myself today. I have just failed in my business. Sounds miserable, but actually it was wonderful! I have gained the clarity I’ve been seeking for just under a year which has brought the focus of my practice to its correct point. Where did I fail? My target market. I wanted to help Millennials and I wanted to work with Businesses. I also wanted to work with women and entrepreneurs. This is all well and good but in Coaching, we need to be more specific and we need to really LOVE what we’re doing otherwise we won’t be able to become experts and specialists in our fields. So, after a few external conversations with some incredible peers, I realised that what I was trying to focus on was Employee Engagement in the Workplace. This way I get to work with businesses to help facilitate change in their culture and create value-based businesses and I get to work with Gen X-ers and Millennials. I still want to work with Individuals, so I’ve kept this profiling more general. In simple terms (especially because Coaching is all about rapport) if you like me, you’re more likely to be able to work with me as your Coach and we can work on any area of your life from health, relationships, career and even your entrepreneurial journey. I’m personally passionate about Coaching and helping others be their best but Coaching can sometimes be seen as a luxury. It kind of is and kind of isn’t. I would ask “How much do you value your life and achieving your goals?” Harsh but true. I’ll happily pay for a 1 hour massage for £60 but for anything more, I need to know that the masseur will knead me so hard, my entire body will be like jelly when they’re done! It’s the same for any service/product that makes your life better.
Anyway, so as I was rooting through my business strategy and understanding the patterns emerging with the types of clients I was attracting and getting excited about, I set to making that very clear with my marketing. Hence my website has had a facelift and I’ve had a little hiatus on social media for a few weeks so I wasn’t distracted and could get my message right. During this time, I thought a lot about pricing. For the businesses I help, well they are businesses, so they can create budgets if they have regular revenue coming in therefore, I will charge what I deem my value to their organisation. On the flip side, with individuals, because I don’t want to turn anyone away who genuinely wants this kind of support, I will let them decide what they are a) able to afford and b) what they think the value of coaching is. This is all very selfish. I get to work with the people and organisations I want to, I still get paid and I get personally fulfilled.
If you can take anything away from this, I urge you to trust that failing is a part of life and that preparing to fail is a great way to manage the anxiety attributed to failure. And don’t forget, failing is not the same as quitting.