Start Your Own Home Business After 50. Robert W. Bly

on fixing processes.

      In contrast, a business coach would concentrate more on the client and less on the processes, working to change how a client might see himself in his business. Business coaches focus more on motivational strategies, helping clients rethink their participation in the business and providing guidance toward more positive and productive thinking. Coaching is more about working with clients to change their thinking and develop natural talents that enhance not only themselves, but their business, as well.

       HOW BOB DOES IT

      If you pay attention to e-mails you get from information marketers, you notice that, in addition to selling you their content, they are also giving a lot of their content away. As a business coach, you should consider doing the same. Why?

      Because if all you are doing is selling, your prospects will stop reading your e-mails or letters or listening to your presentations. But if you offer a combination of both free and paid content, they will stay interested and keep reading or listening. They will also appreciate the free stuff you give them and pay back your generosity by ordering more from you.

      What can you give away for free? Well, links that let your readers watch a free video online. Or listen to an audio mp3 file. Or receive invitations to attend free webinars, or to receive free special reports and e-books.

      How do you know what content to give away versus what content you charge for? My rule of thumb, given to me by Internet marketing consultant Wendy Montes de Oca, is this:

       Your free content tells your readers what to do. Your paid content tells them how to do it.

      For example, in an e-mail newsletter, I have revealed the five best ways to promote yourself as a freelance copywriter and explained what the five methods are. But in the limited space of an e-mail, I could not possibly explain how to do each.

      However, I do sell information products that teach how to perform each method in great detail. And, I offer these to my readers at a reasonable price.

      Consider how you could adapt that technique to your coaching business.

       WHO HIRES A COACH?

      To gauge whether you would like to be a coach, you should first understand who your potential clients would be. Who hires a coach? Anyone who needs extra help to pull something together.

      Sometimes people might find themselves at a loss as to how to proceed in a new business. Maybe they want to give presentations to large audiences or sell a product or service but are fearful of public speaking. Or, maybe they don’t believe they are good at sales. So they look for someone who has a successful history of speaking in front of large audiences or running effective sales campaigns to coach them. Coaches can offer a number of techniques that will allow people to move past their fears of failure and become immersed in the presentations they want to give or to create the campaigns they want to carry out. Most of this can be taught in one-on-one situations over several coaching sessions.

      One coaching/consulting firm, Passion for Business, lists on its website (www.passionforbusiness.com) some of the types of clients the company has assisted through its coaching or consulting services, or, in some cases, a combination of the two:

      •Accountant

      •Adult education school owner

      •Alternative medicine healer

      •Animal trainer

      •Attorney

      •Author

      •Business consultant

      •Calligrapher

      •Career counselor

      •Caterer

      •Chiropractor

      •Clergy coach

      •Copywriter

      •Dance studio owner

      •Divorce mediator

      •Employment agency owner

      •Event planner

      •Financial advisor/planner

      •Fitness center designer

      •Graphic designer

      •Holistic healer

      •House painter and restorer

      •Instructional designer/trainer

      •Interior decorator

      •Jewelry designer

      •Life coach

      •Marketing consultant

      •Meeting planner

      •Motivational speaker

      •Multi-level marketer

      •Online distance-learning school owner

      •Outplacement facilitator

      •Organizational development consultant

      •Personal chef

      •Photographer

      •Professional organizer

      •Professional speaker

      •Psychotherapist

      •Real estate agent/broker

      •Real estate investor

      •Retail store owner

      •Small business coach

      •Venture capital consultant

      •Virtual assistant

      •Wedding planner

      •Yoga and Pilates instructor

      To get an idea about how you might set up a coaching business, take a look at the way Passion For Business operates, which includes a variety of phone-based coaching programs. One, the comprehensive 90-day strategy and planning program, is offered for about $1,400 and includes nine 45-minute phone consultations over 90 days. Also, part of the program consists of unlimited short consulting e-mails and access to a client-only website that is chock-full of related resources.

      A less comprehensive package is offered for about $500 and includes three 45-minute phone consultations, unlimited short consulting e-mails, and access to the client-only website. Or, the company will provide individual coaching for about $225 per hour.

       WHAT COULD I COACH?

      There are many avenues you could explore if you want to be a coach, either physical, motivational, or both. Consider all the skills you have learned in a lifetime of work and through your hobbies and leisure activities to see if there are some you could pass along as a coach.

      For example, if you spent years as a professional ballerina with several ballet companies and performed many leading roles, you could become a private coach to aspiring ballerinas. You might be lucky enough to have a large house with one big room that could be converted into a dance studio where you could work with your clients. Or, you could rent a studio from a dance school during hours when there are no classes or rehearsals.

      Voice coaches are often in high demand, especially for clients new to the speech and presentation circuits. If you have background in this area, you can work with a client on speech patterns and breathing techniques. No one wants to listen to a speaker for more than 10 minutes if that speaker’s voice is monotone and boring.