Entrepreneur, Know Thyself
The Essential Foundation for a Thriving Coaching Business
The GCC exists to promote quality and ethical coaching practices, build meaningful connections with peers, and provide inclusive support for coaches across the world. We offer resources, activities, conversations, and collaboration needed for coaches to thrive.
Before you invest in another business strategy or marketing framework, ask yourself a deceptively simple question: How well do you know yourself as a coach? Not just your niche or ideal client, but your deeper motivations, natural strengths, and authentic voice. Do you know your tolerance for risk, emotional triggers, or the full scope of your assets and liabilities?
Many coaches rush to implement business strategies that worked brilliantly for others without considering whether these approaches align with their core values and natural working styles. This misalignment creates a special kind of contorted struggle—one where you're climbing a perfectly good ladder, only to discover it's leaning against the wrong building and you haven’t considered how much you hate heights.
The True Starting Point
"How do I build my business?" is a great question—but the answer varies widely, differs for everyone, and constantly evolves. What worked in business five years ago has changed and will change again. Too often, new coaches end up drowning in "build your business" webinars and chasing the "perfect formula" for immediate success and profitability. Of course, it RARELY works that way.
Consider the coach who forces themself to launch a podcast because of the belief or evidence that "that's what successful coaches do," despite feeling drained by bouts of long, somewhat scripted speaking. Or the naturally warm, relationship-oriented coach who avoids networking events while pouring hours into cold LinkedIn outreach because a course or a colleasgue told them it's the "best" approach. The strategies themselves aren't flawed—they're simply mismatched with the coach's authentic strengths.
This misalignment creates more than just discomfort—it generates active resistance. When your business strategy contradicts your natural inclinations, you'll find yourself procrastinating, feeling oddly exhausted by tasks others find energizing, or abandoning promising approaches before they have time to work. You'll blame the strategy, when the real issue is the disconnect between the strategy and your authentic self. Or, at the very least, not aligned to where you are in your development now.
The Foundation of Self-Knowledge
Before tackling "How do I build my business?" explore the deeper questions that will shape your entrepreneurial journey. By thoughtfully approaching these important considerations, you'll find your business path becomes clearer, moves faster, and produces more consistent results.
Start with your core values and purpose:
What three fundamental values must be reflected in your business?
What aspects of coaching consistently give you the most energy and joy?
Beyond success for yourself, what impact do you most want your coaching practice to have?
What problem in the world feels personally meaningful for you to address?
What would make you proud of your coaching business when looking back 20 years from now?
Then examine your personal strengths and talents:
What unique combination of experiences and qualities do you bring to clients?
What do people consistently say you're remarkably good at, even when it feels effortless to you?
What talents beyond coaching could be incorporated into your business model?
When have you experienced flow in your work—completely absorbed, energized, and performing at your best?
What coaching-related activities come so naturally that you'd do them without compensation?
The coaches who build sustainable businesses rarely do so by following someone else's playbook verbatim. Read that again....and again. Instead, they adapt proven principles to complement their unique strengths and values. The introverted coach might leverage deep writing skills rather than live video. The coach who thrives on spontaneity might focus on real-time coaching demonstrations rather than meticulously planned marketing funnels or scripted calls.
Practical Considerations That Shape Success
Knowing yourself also means being honest about practical considerations that will shape your business:
Energy Management: How will your business model align with your natural energy cycles? Some models require consistent high energy (frequent live events), while others allow for more recovery time.
Runway Planning: Beyond financial runway, what's your emotional and energetic runway? Building a coaching practice often takes longer than expected—are you prepared for the psychological journey?
Seasons of Life: How does your current life season (parenting young children, caring for aging parents, health considerations) influence what's realistic for your business model?
Personal Boundaries: What are your non-negotiables around availability, travel requirements, and work-life integration?
Tech Comfort Zone: What's your comfort level with technology, and how should that influence your business model choices and potential support needs?
Support System: Who will support you emotionally through the entrepreneurial journey, especially during challenging periods?
Willingness to Challenge Yourself: If there are things for you to learn, or grow into, how willing are you to put in that work? Everyone has a bottom-line truth to the amount of effort and change they manage at one time – have you even considered yours?
Remember: no business strategy, however brilliant, can overcome the friction created when it contradicts who you fundamentally are. Your most sustainable path to success runs through self-knowledge first, strategy second.
Implementation Reality
Self-knowledge also informs how you'll approach the implementation of your business:
Decision-Making Framework: What process will you use to make important business decisions when faced with conflicting advice or opportunities?
Experimentation Mindset: Are you prepared to treat your first year as a series of experiments rather than expecting perfection immediately?
Measurement Definition: How will you define and measure "success" beyond just financial metrics, especially in the early stages?
In the process of business development, knowing yourself isn't just helpful—it's the essential filter through which all other decisions must pass.
Moving Forward with Clarity
Consider journaling on these questions over a full week rather than trying to answer them all at once. Notice which questions energize you and which ones create resistance—both reactions offer valuable information about your entrepreneurial path.
If you encounter questions that leave you thinking "I don't know," seek the information and experience needed to answer them—don't skip any! To ignore your own challenges, resistance, or confusion with any of these aspects is like burying landmines all over the landscape of your business and hoping they never explode.
When you address these considerations before creating formal plans, you'll build on a solid foundation of self-awareness and market understanding. This deeper preparation typically results in business and marketing plans that are not only more effective but also more authentic and sustainable for you as a coach.
Remember that the most successful coaching businesses reflect their owners' reality, rather than following generic models that may look appealing but don't align with your unique situation. In a world of endless business development options, your clearest path forward starts with knowing yourself.
Be sure to check out our next story in this series:
