AJV (00:02): So this note is specifically for the coaches out there. I had an awesome podcast interview actually earlier this week with a new friend of mine, Minal. And we got to talking about coaches and the coaching community and the coaching industry as a whole. And there were a few quick takeaways that I thought would be worth to pull out, put ’em in a little condensed version for you right now. But this is for you coaches out there who are out there serving your clients. So here was the question that was asked, what do you think coaches need to know to be better coaches? And I thought the answers were super helpful and pretty tactical, so I’m gonna share ’em with you right now. Number one, be niche, right? Get clear on who you wanna serve, how you wanna serve ’em, and what you’re going to actually do, right? AJV (00:53): Being a generalist is not in your best benefit. So niche down, niche down, both on the who, the how, and the what. Like what is it that you actually do coaching on? Who do you do it for and how do you uniquely do it? So it’s niche down in each of those three categories. So that’s the first thing you can actually do to be a better coach, is be more specific, less general, right? There’s a little saying in our house at the vaden household, the more specific, the more terrific, right? And this is a chance that you can be more specific and be more terrific. So niche down on the who, what, and the how of how you serve your clients. All right? That’s number one. Note, note and be honest with yourself, that being a great coach and building a coaching business are two very different things. AJV (01:45): The talent and the skills that it takes to be a great coach are often different than the skills that it takes to learn and master of running a great coaching business, right? Being a great coach means that you’ve got tactical experience and expertise that you can help someone with. You’re a great listener. You are a great asker of questions. You have great empathy, you have great accountability. There are so many amazing skills that it takes to be a great coach, but there are also some really important skills that it takes to build a good coaching business. Like having a sound operational system that you can invoice people with and collect money with. A good way of keeping notes clean and information updated, A great way of sending out reminders for calls, meetings, content a notes consolidation process. You’ve got taxes. You’ve got all those operational, administrative and financial things that you also have to have in place. Otherwise, you don’t have a coaching business, thus you don’t have a coaching practice. So just be aware that the skills that it takes to be a great coach are AJV (02:58): Uniquely different than the skills that it takes to run a coaching business, and definitely different than the ones it’s gonna take to grow and scale one if that’s of your desire. So it’s just to be aware consciously aware of the unique set of skillsets that you need in both areas, both of being a coach and running a coaching business. And if you’re not even sure what those are, then that’s what we at Brand Builders Group, that’s what we do. That’s what we help you with, . So we got massive amounts of resources on that. But you also reach out to the coaching community, right? I reach out to other business owners, entrepreneurs and find those things out. Be like, what, what do I need to know to, to run a great coaching business? Or maybe you’re asking, what, what am I lacking in being a great coach? AJV (03:45): E it works either way. I think the first step is just be consciously aware. Those are uniquely different skill sets, and you need ’em both. Okay? Yes. Number two number three is the importance, the importance of organized systems and how important that organization is to the client experience. And this is where there’s a combination of both technology and psychology that’s really important for your practice as a coach, is that there’s a, a component of me where it’s like, man, I, I want access to that recording that we just did on that session. I want access to the raw notes. You said you were gonna put a a list together. I have some action items. Where is it? You were gonna refer me a book, you were gonna send me this. Where is it? There’s a, a process to the organization that improves the experience that makes it easy for me as your client to have a great experience and make positive progress on every single call. AJV (04:38): And that’s where technology plays a great role. Automation and just different platforms. But there is a really important part of our role as coaches of staying organized to improve the customer experience so that they can make the progress they need to improve their lives and their businesses. So just the importance of organized systems will make you a better coach, right? Then that kind of lends itself to this question of technology, right? Which is, well, how does technology make the coaching experience better? And there are three simple things. One, it’s consolidation, right? Keeping all of your emails, chats, communication, documentation, recording content material in a a singular place is so helpful when I don’t have to go to a SharePoint drive and an email and a text thread and an L m s, I’m only saying those things because we have these same struggles, right? But the consolidation, if I go to one place to find all my stuff, then that’s so helpful to me. It allows me to be a better client by saying, organize so I don’t bug you the coach all the time. So it’s in your benefit too, as the coach. It’s like the more that you can consolidate, it’s like your life is gonna be more streamlined because your clients’ lives are more streamlined. So consolidation is a AJV (05:56): Major perk and benefit of technology. The second thing, it’s simplicity, right? Finding technology platforms that are simple they don’t have to be robust and complicated. They just need to work. So finding a technology platform that actually is easy to use, simple to use, right? Has basic trainings already available out there. So you’re not the person to conduct in inform, instruct and teach everyone how to use this, right? But the, just having something that is simple and easy to use, and there’s already a well known process, right? So easy user interface is a part of that. If I log in and can’t figure out how to do it, it’s not a good platform, right? So as you go through it of going, Hey, how long did it take you to learn it? And just double that or triple that for each of your clients, right? AJV (06:44): So pick technology that is simple. And then the third thing about technology and how we can use technology to create better experiences with our coaching community is community. It’s connection, right? So use technology to actually amplify the community component, which makes your clients have a better coaching experience. So how can you use technology to better create the connection within all of your different clients, or even if it’s just you and your client? That could be something as simple as having a Slack channel for all of your clients. That could be having a private group of some sort, a private community group somewhere. Maybe it’s hosting unique group calls that you just do over some sort of, you know, webinar or virtual meeting. I’m, I’m trying to stay technology agnostic right now and not mention any technologies because I think there’s pros and cons to all of them. AJV (07:41): But it’s just finding ways to use technology to increase connection, not decrease connection, right? And that can happen too. Like one of the things that I’ll do to keep this completely technology agnostic is that I just make video messages. I make videos or even audio messages and send those to my client, right? Just seeing the face means a great deal. So instead of sending a text, make a quick video message or an audio message versus sending an email or sending a text, really simple increases that connection point in that community. And so there’s some things that you can do right now to increase the community experience, the coaching experience by using technology and at the same time making your life and your business easier and the process. So you coaches out there, you’re doing awesome. I so admire what you do. I, I, you are who I am meant to serve. Keep doing what you’re doing and let us help it make just a little bit easier for you. So keep on coming, we’ll see you next time.