One of the biggest mistakes I see female entrepreneurs make when they decide to set up their own online services business is that they…
call themselves a coach!
“Yeh but, yeh but” I hear you say, “yeh but, I am a coach”.
OK… so you may be accredited by whichever coaching association you did your course with. But a coach?
Bear with me.
Nobody taps into Google “I want a coach”. In old school a coach was someone who helped improve your sporting prowess. Coaching for us in the online world is pretty self-explanatory – but the word itself doesn’t talk to the woman on the street. She wants something fixed.
We seek solutions to our problems.
I need someone to “help me stop stuffing my face when I’m stressed”.
I don’t search for “coach”.
I need someone to “help me close more sales”.
I don’t search for “coach”.
I need someone to show me how to “gather great testimonials”.
I don’t search for “coach”.
People buy solutions, not job titles!
Coach is such a generic word and with “Business Coaches” it’s doubly-vague. What type of business? Which aspects of business? What’s your expertise?
If you are an all-around busines expert people will be asking why you’re running a coaching empire and not a more traditional type of business? Richard Branson is a business coach… but right now that’s just a sideline he has – it’s not his sole business because I’m guessing it’s not actually what he’s best at.
So if you’re a business coach you either need to embrace the fact that you’re not brilliant with all facets of the business and pull in an expert for those bits – or, you need to just focus on the things you fucking ace!
To call yourself a coach damages what you do because it gives no indiacation as to your area of expertise and speciality – and also brings us back to “Chase 2 rabbits – catch none” when you fail to niche.
Same theory if you’re a VA:
I type “I need someone to help me move my app data over to this new app”.
I don’t search for a VA.
Get specific. Drop the generic sold-to-you job title and create one unique to your skills and your personality.
I promise you – people buy solutions, not job titles – and especially when your job title is so vague it conveys exactly zip!
