Planning for a coach is about creating the ‘container’ for your coaching work. Without doing this you will be coaching whenever people want you to coach them, whatever timezone they are in. All that will lead to is a burnt-out frazzled coach and as this is a website about being a nurtured coach that’s not the direction that I think you are probably wanting to head in.
Here are some tips on planning for life coaches and other holistic entrepreneurs.
- Use an online scheduler for your client appointments. I use Satori as it was recommended to me by a couple of coaches that I really respect. I like how it helps me keep track of how many sessions out of the coaching package that the client has had and how many are left. I also like that I can include the client questionnaire and that it sends the clients reminders of their upcoming sessions. It does have the option of including a contract, but I only put a copy of the contract here as I think Hello Sign is a better service to help make sure that contracts have more legal standing. I also use Acuity for some freelance career coaching that I do as part of my practice and have also found this easy to use and reliable.
- Sync your appointment scheduler with your online calendar, if you use an online calendar.
- If you don’t have an online calendar, I’d recommend trying one out to keep track of appointments. I use googlecal and have also heard good things about ical.
- Plan in your time for family – e.g. school runs and after school time.
- Plan in your time to exercise. I do two half hours of ballet each day (Mon-Sat) and plan these into my online scheduler.
- Plan your bedtimes.
- Plan your downtime.
- Decide which days and times are best for coaching clients and which are best for doing the other work relating to your practice and put the times you are available for coaching on your online scheduler.
- Put similar types of work together as you’ll waste less time moving from one thing to another. Melissa Cassera has a great free opt-in offer guide on this called I Heart Batching.
- You may want to also have a written planner. I am still experimenting with this but suggest you start with the free planning page from Whitney English. These pages are the same as are in her Day Designer that the amazing master coach, Susan Hyatt recommends.
You might also want to consider using a yearly business planner to think of what your business goals are for 2017.
This year I am using a combination of:
The Fresh Start Guide by Amber Mc Cue ($34 on 28/11/16)
Conquer Your Year: The Ultimate Planner to Get More Done, Grow Your Business, and Achieve Your Dreams by Natalie Macneil (£12.18 on Amazon UK)
The yearly planner from ‘Kate Courageous’ that was free to her email subscribers.
What about you? How do you plan your coaching work as part of the rest of your life?
None of the links above are affiliate links.