How to feel ready to get started
It’s easy to fall into the mindset of not being ready to go out there and attract clients, just yet; there’s often a little voice in our heads, saying ‘I just need one more qualification, or piece of knowledge; I just need a website; I just need a marketing strategy’.
All these things keep us from just getting out there and doing what is at the heart of our coaching business – supporting other people to be, do, and have more of what they want in their lives; to feel positive, confident, and in the driving seat of their life.
In reality, the things that we think we need are nice to have, but not essential and if we wait until we are truly ‘ready’ we will never actually get started. We will always find something else that, if we just did that first, or we just waited until that was in place, would mean we are ‘ready’; ready to go out there, ready to be visible, and ready to attract our first paying clients.
I saw this quote by Hugh Laurie, English comedian and actor, and it really resonated with me
“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready, there is only now” Hugh Laurie, comedian and actor
I fell into the trap of not thinking I was ready when I first started my business, although it was accidental really. I enjoy writing blogs and articles, so decided to begin there. Then I needed somewhere to put them, so I thought ‘okay I’ll need a website then’. Once I decided I needed a website, just a page, or two didn’t seem to be enough, so I ended up creating an entire website, which naturally took some time. And once I had decided I needed an entire website, I didn’t want to share my blogs until that website was finished, so it all became a vicious circle!
So, how do we stop waiting until we are ‘ready’ and take a leap of faith now to get out there and attract the clients we want to work with?
Remembering your purpose
Remind yourself why you are doing this in the first place; what you are passionate about and why you want to support people to make positive change in their lives.
This purpose is powerful and can be the driving force towards taking that step rather than waiting until we are ready.
Consider what led you to want to coach others, or set up your coaching business, what drew you to NLP and helped you decide to become an NLP Practitioner. I am sure it wasn’t ‘just because’ and keeping that purpose quite literally front and centre is key to taking a leap of faith.
Believing you are ready
I see many Practitioners who have multiple qualifications, or certifications, and who are adding to their skills and knowledge in the same way I collected brownie badges. They’ve got an entire sleeve full of them but haven’t yet attracted their first client. Now, don’t get me wrong, continuous professional development is hugely beneficial and I am a massive advocate of ongoing learning (this year my focus for learning is on resolving trauma, which I am incredibly excited about).
Where it becomes a challenge is when the need for continuous learning is because we don’t feel good enough, we don’t feel we know enough, or we don’t believe we will be able to support people with the knowledge and skills we already have.
In the same way that I described in my earlier story how I became adamant about the fact that I needed to have my entire website established before I could say I was ready.
If this resonates with you, try finishing this statement and see what comes up; I will be ready when…
What is it that your subconscious is telling you needs to happen before you are ready? Is it one or multiple things?
Now ask yourself why it needs to happen and what would go wrong if it didn’t? What are your fears or beliefs? This will enable you to address the beliefs, or fears that are getting in the way of you believing you are ready.
Breaking your outcomes into steps on the journey
No one climbs Mount Everest in a single day; it would be physically impossible, in the same way that reaching your future outcomes in a week, a month, or even one year, is most likely to be unachievable.
Try thinking about the journey to your future outcome and the steps, or milestones along the way. The stop offs as you head towards that destination.
Decide what those milestones are – one might be your first client, or your first paid talk. Work towards the milestones with an eye on the future outcome. This way being ‘ready’ doesn’t feel such a big word; it feels more manageable to be ‘ready’ for the individual step than for the overall destination.
Let me know how you get on with these steps; I would love to hear from you.
Take care,
Jo
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If you feel like you could benefit from a little extra support, why not set up a complimentary mentoring session with me to see if there’s a good match for one of my 1:1 or group mentoring packages. If you feel like you could benefit from a little extra support, why not set up a complimentary mentoring session with me to see if there’s a good match for one of my 1:1 or group mentoring packages. You can find more details about the mentoring packages I offer here