What’s it like being a coach?
What it’s like to be a coach? Let me tell you about the time I became one.
Ever since I graduated from high school, I felt lost – I had no idea what I wanted to do. Seriously, I went to study Psychology because I could branch out in everything that seemed interesting to me – marketing, HR, coaching, consulting, mental health work and promotion, anything people-related.
The idea of being a coach
Welp, my study was very dry – I went to the Netherlands with the idea that university there will be more practical than in Bulgaria. In reality, it was a teeny bit more practical but I just had twice the amount of free time I would’ve had if I studied back home. This got me thinking, how can I apply what I learn in practice?
I’ve been working with this amazing coach and entrepreneur – Elitsa Kostova (Eli) since the beginning of 2018. She is a career coach, working to help young people find their purpose. We met at one of her career orientation events. Around the beginning of my second semester, I asked her if she could teach me how to coach because certification programs were way out of my budget.
Cool but what is a coach?
You might be wondering what is a coach, exactly? It’s a person who helps you find a goal or something you really want to change/achieve, then guides you by asking questions so that you figure out how to get there. Essentially a coach is someone who is there for you, helps you get your power back, and holds you accountable for whatever your action plan is.
Back to the story, Eli was happy to share her knowledge and experience with me, yay! We started an online apprenticeship. She would explain the concepts and techniques she uses, then we would do a short demo coaching session, so I can see what it’s like to be coached with those approaches. My homework was to find someone to practice on.
Searching for coaching ‘guinea pigs’ felt so weird! I felt like an impostor, like “who am I to help others handle their issues when I still had no idea what I wanted to do?”. I mean, coaching seemed fun and interesting, and very appealing with the opportunity to help people globally from the comfort of my own home. That’s all I knew – I wanted to be of help in some way.
First clients… or not?
I posted on Facebook saying that I’m looking for people who want to be coached by me, so I can learn and practice. I think I had 8 people interested, with 5 of which I actually had sessions. They were happy with me! I thought this is it – they’ll give me good testimonials, and I’ll be on my way to earning as a coach!
Nope.
Then came the ‘niching down’. This is when you choose your professional focus and the exact service and result you’ll provide. Uhhhh. Allriiight… Let’s see what I’m knowledgeable about – relationships, I guess? I’ll try it and see what’ll happen.
My coaching niche and promotion
I made a Facebook page and used my IG to start posting thoughtful nuggets of knowledge and relationship advice. I ran FB ads with adequate success and too many people hitting on me to count.
All the information came from my own experience but maybe a 2 months in, I had seen barely any traction, barely any interest, and was running out of things to write about, fast. In social media strategies, you should always have more to say!
So I thought about what else am I good at. Oh, I know – confidence! Self-esteem helps people take action on what they truly want, eases communication, and makes relationships stronger. It allows you to take control of your life and your self-worth. It’s a topic I was 98% passionate about. Now, I had to answer a very important question:
How do I distinguish myself?
I had the idea to create a course, that covers everything I have learned about self-esteem: starting with the definition of confidence, through beliefs and overcoming overthinking, to diet and culture. I had divided my content into 8 areas to make sure I don’t miss anything that might be beneficial to my future clients. My boyfriend edited the videos of the course, plus the 5 videos I made for the beta test – so happy I had his support! <3
The beta-test was next. I made a Facebook group ‘Diamond Confidence BETA’ (you can join if you want, it’s inactive), where I posted a 5-day version of my course, and I asked in other FB groups if there are people who would like to join the trial for free. FIFTY people gave their emails!! I send an invite through email – 31 joined the group… When I began posting content, less than 10 people interacted with it. I began to feel discouraged.
However, the people that interacted with me gave me so much good feedback! They achieved great results, which kept me going to finish the video course I was making. 🤩 I asked friends to help me create my exercise guide e-book and made a 3-part video freebie. I learned how to edit videos, which was fun. Through trying to make this work I realized that
it just isn’t for me.
Marketing myself, writing knowledgeable posts every day is just eh. Coaching and helping people is something that fires me up, so hopefully I can still practice it without all the exhausting marketing efforts. I left this project slide after working on it for 8 months.
I want to share with you some of what I made then – I feel a little ashamed of my expectations that something I’m not 100% passionate about will soar and bring me fame and fortune. The information I compiled is superb, I just think it’s meant to help people for free. Here you can check out my 3-part video freebie.
If that or the content in the FB group sparked your interest, email me at info@myadventurestosuccess.com with the subject ‘Diamond Confidence’, and I’ll send you the full exercise guide e-book as a gift. You’ll be shining confidently as a diamond if you implement even a fraction of what I’ve shared in there. 😉
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