Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching: How to Create a Thriving Coaching Practice

by Stephen G. Fairley and Chris E. Stout

Book Overview

Find satisfaction and financial success with a new career in coaching

Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching offers a go-to reference designed to help every mental health professional build, manage, and sustain a thriving coaching practice. Packed with hundreds of proven strategies and techniques, this nuts-and-bolts guide covers all aspects of the coaching business with step-by-step instructions and real-world illustrations that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471426245
• ISBN13: 9780471426240
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent tips on establishing & growing your coaching business

Note that this is NOT a book about how to coach. This is a great resource for someone who is looking for a well structured set of tips on how to establish a new coaching practice. It is also a great reference for experienced coaches to dip into. The networking and marketing sections are particularly useful. Experienced coaches will likely find some new ideas, but may get more value by being reminded of techniques that already knew about but have just forgotten to implement... The book follows a logical progression for a new coach. - What type of coaching you should focus on and why (business vs personal coaching) - Which markets to target - Planning - financial & marketing - Networking - first impressions, relationships & referrals - Finding your first clients - Marketing tips & mistakes - Internet marketing - Traits & techniques of very successful coaches There's also a section focusing on individuals from a professionally regulated field, such as psychology or counseling, who are considering transitioning to coaching. I enjoyed the style of the book, which is quite "checklist" oriented. As someone who makes lists for everything, it very was easy for me to digest. More importantly is that it's a book that I continue to pick up and reference as it's so easy to dip into. Nicely laid out. I also like the mini-interviews with successful coaches (usually just a page or so) providing tips & perspectives from growing their own businesses. As a nuts and bolts description of how to operate & grow a coaching business, you can't go wrong with this book. Look elsewhere if you need a resource for developing coaching skills & techniques.

The Best Book on How to Start a Coaching Practice

I purchased four books on how to start a coaching practice. I found this book to be the best out of all of them. The book is full of valuable information. It is a must read for the beginner coach.

The Ultimate How to in Starting to Coach

Fairley and Stout have gone through the nuts and bolts of starting a coaching business down to how to do and not do your business cards. They tell you what to buy on a small, medium or large start-up budgets. They also tell you how to get clients and give many ideas and examples. You can very much see Chris Stout's MBA/business experience in this book. There may come a time when someone writes a better "how to" manual, but when they do they will really have to step up and compare themselves to this book to see if their book rates consideration.

The ultimate guidebook for those interested in coaching

So you want to start a new business enterprise as a personal or executive coach? Reading a copy of "Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching" is the place you will want to start. This is not just another book on the joys of coaching, but has real life information that you should know before making the commitment. The authors have provided some cold, hard facts about executive coaching including how long it typically takes to get started, how much the average person earns after one year in the business, typical problems getting clients and referrals and what to do about it. The book is a business analysis of the industry from beginning to end. It includes such important information as what you need to know to get started, what you need to know to succeed, how to market, how to segment your market, how to target that segment, financing your business, Internet marketing, using E-zines, and using web sites. Fairly and Stout even include seven secrets of highly successful coaches. This is a complete road map of what to realistically expect, how to get to your goal, and all the steps along the way. If you are interested in becoming a personal or executive coach it is a highly recommended book and the best I've come across to date.

An Insiders Guide on Creating a Successful Coaching Practice

I saw this book at the recent ICF conference in Denver but waited to buy it. I should have bought it then because I haven't been able to put it down since I recieved it! I am so impressed with the authors grasp of the field of coaching and their ability to clearly articulate how to create a successful coaching practice.Unlike a lot of the other books I've bought, this one really distinguishes itself by basing its marketing recommendations on actual research. The authors conducted a national survey of 300 coaches to find out what financially successful coaches do that financially unsuccessful coaches don't do--the findings are AMAZING!I've been coaching professionally for almost 3 years now. I really wish this book was around when I started because it would have kept me from making a lot of the costly mistakes I did. I also wish my coach training program had included this book in its curriculum because they were quite weak in the area of practice building.However, that's not to say that the book is only for new coaches because I was able to immediately identify over 2 dozen marketing strategies I could start using in my practice. They are now part of my 2004 business plan (which is one of the things this book showed me how to create).The other thing I found to be really helpful were the interviews with the top coaches in the field: Sandy Vilas of CoachU, Mike Jay of B/Coach, Pat Williams of Institute of Life Coach Training, Wendy Johnson of the Worldwide Assoc of Business Coaches, and many others.I give this book my highest recommendation! If you're struggling with how to create a successful coaching practice there is simply no better book available anywhere.