ABSTRACT
Coaching, in comparison to psychotherapy and counselling, is a new kid on the block, with no clearly defined general niche or target group. Due to its applicability to healthy normal populations and the fact that clients don’t need to be in a state of pain or suffering to benefit from a coaching relationship, successful coaches tend to be successful entrepreneurs. Given that existential(ly minded) coaches often descent from psychology and philosophy backgrounds and coaches in general are often more interested in coaching rather than selling coaching or running a business, many qualified coaches struggle to sign up new clients. This chapter aims to lay the foundation for building a coaching business and provides practical advice on a variety of ways to market your services, position yourself in the market, form strategic partnerships for referrals, resolve issues around niching, sign up coaching clients as a follow-up to running groups, workshops or public speaking gigs and tips on advertising. It offers a range of further reading into area such as sales, marketing, positioning, successfully closing consultations and how to further hone your business skills in order to succeed in building a profitable coaching practice.
