Building your coaching business from the closet

It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

Trying to be someone you’re not. Desperate to quit, but also not able to because of financial, family or confidence reasons. Living double lives?

That’s how I felt when I was side hustling while working a full-time job, for 1.5 years.

No one could know I wrote. That I had a whole other life on the side, which I could never share. You see, in India, it’s illegal in a lot of companies to have alternate jobs/sources of income (others than investments, of course) - yes, I checked in our contract.

I hadn’t crossed my financial savings limit yet. I was still experimenting with different stuff, trying to lay the foundation of my writing business. And most importantly, I wasn’t confident I could make it alone.

I was sure that wanted to leave this phase though.

Leave the corporate. Leave the 9 to 5. Leave my life behind as a Technical consultant.

Those months were a nightmare. I felt so much friction inside of me, because I was trying to someone I’m not with my colleagues. I had tasted the drops of freedom, and what it meant to be…me. I craved that more and more as time went on…almost like a drug addict (yes, I know it’s an alarming analogy, but you get what I mean).

It was horrible.

I know many of you are in this phase too. You’re trying to set up your coaching/consulting business on the side without your company knowing, only because, they either don’t allow it, or you’ll become a competition to them and it goes against the policy.

Trust me, I get it.

Of course, the best case scenario is that your company agrees to your having side hustles and has no problem you running your own business.

But for many of you, it might not be the case.

So here are 6 ways, you can lay the foundation of your coaching business from your closet (until you get the confidence either to leave or stay)

6 tips to build your coaching business from the closet

1. Create a social account where none of your colleagues/network exist

There are sooooooo many social media tools today. While LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter are the most famous of all, you can try Medium, Reddit, Patreon and much more.

For me it was Medium, Facebook and Twitter. I was 99% sure that my office folks won’t find me there, so I felt free and confident in posting about my business. I was also able to have amazing conversations with people, without feeling that I’ve to watch my back 100% of the time.

P.S: The fear of judgment will probably not leave you, even after you quit. I’m still terrified to post on LinkedIn because everyone I know in real life is there.

2. Be anonymous

Anonymity needn’t be a bad thing. And you can choose how anonymous you want to be.

Examples:

• You can shorten your name with initials. John Doe can become JD Life Coach or something.

• You can use your old photos where you’re not recognizable in the first glance

• Or you can have a completely different name and photo

It’s up to you. Trust me, there are tons of people online who do well with anonymity

But there’s one problem here. You’ve to work 10X harder to gain trust. The best way is to…

3. Build relationships

Coaching is a 1:1 business. You don’t need to gain the trust of 1000 people or do audience building. You simply need to gain trust and start working with 3 to 4 people. That’s it.

Relieves the pressure off, doesn’t it?

DMs and calls become your best friends here. Not to purely sell. But create the foundation of a network that’ll serve you well.

4. Learn, prepare, get ready

Take courses (self paced or CBCs), read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts…do anything that’ll make you better in your field.

Hone your offer, skills and more

There’s no better time to learn than when you start your business. I’m not saying education won’t be a part of your business in the future, but now it’s essential. Why not use the time anyway?

Plus, you can experiment a shit ton in the beginning of your journey. No one’s gonna notice you, because they honestly don’t care. Pivot as much as you want, learn as much as you want, and meet tons of people.

You’ll be in a far better place than otherwise.

5. Practice giving free sessions and getting paid for it

The best thing you can do while working, is learning how to implement your skills for free. By practicing, experiment with your session structures by giving free sessions or even packages in exchange for a case study or a testimonial.

The next stage is getting paid clients, even if they are only paying you a small amount. The confidence you get when your first client pays you for you effort is tremendous. Get comfortable with pitching to people, and talking about what you do to complete strangers.

Your confidence in your ability will exponentially increase.

6. Iterate enough so that you’re at least 90% sure of the direction you’re going to go

You will have more pivots later too. You will iterate and evolve later too. That’s not a problem.

But the surety you get from this will pave a good starting point for you, once you quit your job. Trust me, I did that mistake. Even when I quit to become a writer, I felt in my gut that I did not like writing for others. Not one bit. I didn’t listen to it.

While I don’t regret any of my decisions, I feel I would have been at a much better stage, if I had known I wanted to become a coach.

Each of the above steps is to increase your confidence and strengthen your foundation before you quit. I’m not saying that things won’t get fucked up after you quit. But you’ll definitely be prepared better.

Last week I wrote a thread on the points to remember during this transition period. Along with this newsletter, I hope the thread is helpful to you:)

I know shifting your career can be a lonely journey. But it doesn’t have to be. Feel free to DM me, if you feel like you need help. I’ll do my best (if not as a coach, at least as a friend).

Until next time,

Shruthi