When you’re a new business builder, how do you actually tell whether you’re improving and actually making your way towards building a sustainable business in the first year your business has been around?
One of the joys of my work is when people text me, report in on a community call, or send me an email with their successes as a new academic coach. In the last 24 hours, I received five–count them, five numbers!–that various new academic coaches use to register their own growth and success in starting their businesses.
I thought it would be fun to share those numbers with you so you can help celebrate alongside these coaches who are in my Rock Your Biz community. I’ll even share with you what one coach is making in a year of her work as an academic life coach and how she’s making it.
Five Numbers to Gauge Progress in the First Year of Business
- The number: 2
This is the number of meetings this week that the coach in question was able to schedule with new referral partners or connections that will, hopefully, eventually lead to new clients. This particular number is exciting because this is a coach who was struggling to get some momentum in her business building because a lot of stuff was going on in her personal life. The fact that she’s got two meetings this week is huge! It shows that momentum has started. Yay!
- The number: 5
This is the number of days per week that another coach was successfully spending five minutes building relationships with new referral partners who are some of her former colleagues. She was so celebrating that she was able to actually commit to this process that we call “five for five.” It’s a networking process that I teach that was created by my colleague Michelle Warner, and it is proving very successful for this coach. I don’t remember the number of actual meetings she’s been able to schedule as a result of this, but we can celebrate the action of getting that actual email sent and five minutes a day in marketing!
Wanna’ know what’s even more of a celebration? This particular coach said she found the process fun! She said, “I’m not a marketing type [and, news flash: most of us educators who become academic coaches are not marketing types!) so I’ve been scared to have to sell myself. And I’m so thrilled that you’ve taught us a process, Gretchen, that actually helps me be able to joyfully connect with people I’d actually kind of like to connect with anyway!” So that is another huge celebration– yay!
- The number: 6
This is the number of new clients total for someone who just started his business from scratch eight months ago! That’s not that long ago and he was very excited to report in about how that intake conversation went during our community call earlier today. So huge! Yay!
- The number: 50
I was so impressed by this! It’s the number of emails that one of the coaches in my program sent to potential referral partners this week alone! This particular set went to therapists and educational psychologists. Next he’s going to start reaching out to folks at schools. He feels thrilled that he let himself write an imperfect reach out letter, that he sent out 50 of them, and he’s already gotten a number of very pleased replies. He was worried his message would come off as too salesy, but people were so appreciative to have him reach out, so I’m looking forward to seeing how many new clients this yields for him. Yay!
- The number: 4,500
This is the cost of a year in my Rock Your Biz program if you want everything I offer. I can’t promise, but I often tell people that they are likely to pay off the cost of the program before they’ve even finished it if they’re able to follow all my instructions. Today on the Rock Your Biz community call, somebody announced that he had just gotten another client and had paid off his full investment about eight months into the year-long program!
It’s so exciting to know that just participating, just getting on the track of becoming a licensed Anti-Boring Coach and getting on my website can help bring you clients–and help you help these young people who are so in need. So yay for him!
Are you ready for a bonus sixth number?
- The number: 72,000
That’s the income a coach, who has been in my program and is now a member of the Circle of Licensed Coaches, anticipates she’ll earn this year!
She decided to take 15 clients this year, whereas she only took 12 last year. She also decided to raise her rates to $3,195 a semester. These two decisions, taken together, means she will earn $29,000 MORE than the 43k she earned last year. That is a huge jump for her.
I remember when she reached out letting the Rock Your Biz community know what her rates were and everyone told her, “you’ve got to raise your rates.” Having the support of the community bolstered her confidence and then the thrill of seeing the potential numbers roll in…that’s really, really exciting! I’m so thrilled for her, and I am also thrilled for you!
Are you someone who is interested in building either your own little side hustle as an educator or a full-fledged business like some of these folks that I’ve been telling you about?
If so, there are two things you can do to take a step in that direction:
First: you can work through my email course, Should I Grow My Biz as an Academic Life Coach. That will give you all kinds of additional information about what life is like as an academic coach.
Second: you can come hang out with the community and feel our vibes. You can do that for free just sign up here and you can come to my next, free office hours session where you can ask a question or just listen in! It would be a joy to see you there!
