By: Kim Green

It’s the first blog of 2017 and I’m ready. And, so is Lynn, who is very excited about this next part of the course. On Tuesday, she welcomed us back by finalizing the last thoughts on marketing that we started before the break. She promised that she would tell us about liability insurance and fees, which must have scared us, no one mentioned it and she didn’t either. Perhaps it’s a little premature. She did talk about fees, but I am so grateful that I have rounded up some people who will let me coach them, for free, that I am not worrying about the money, YET. Lastly, Lynn asked again, “Anyone want to share their elevator speech that they worked on over the break?”

Crickets.

No one was ready to recite their elevator speech. Including me.

But, I did spend time thinking about it over the break. I got so inspired that I thought of a business name, wrote the welcome packet and agreement and ordered business cards. I told you, I’m ready!

But the speech is still only in my mind, not on paper yet. Not to be shared. I guess the elevator speech is how I would explain my business in a few seconds. It is also a response when someone asks “What do you do?” I like Lynn’s suggestion of responding with, “What it is that you do?”

Most people are not excited about what they do. They are just DOING it for reasons they can’t even remember. When I detect that they are not excited about what they are doing, I will then ask them, “What does excite you?” We all know how much people love to talk about what excites them, so it is the perfect way to earn their trust.

Once someone has told me about their love of beekeeping or knitting sweaters for dogs, that’s when the speech would come in.

My speech would be about turning their passion into paying work, if that is what they envision for themselves. Then, I would tell them that I am a “Results Coach” (what I have recently named myself! Lol!) I’ll say, “I can support you and partner with you to make your bee-keeping passion a reality.”

That, of course is NOT a proper elevator speech. But then again, I will never be in an elevator, since I work at home in my pajamas. The one place that I am always, is Kroger, the supermarket. Now that she has told me more about her bees and her passion for them, she is now staring at me again. That is when I would whip my speech out. That same elevator speech that I am avoiding, that I should have presented to the class for feedback. The one that needs Lynn’s blessing, before I try it out in Kroger.

Meantime, in my little scenario, the beekeeper is still staring at me with expectant eyes that say, “Tell me more about being a Results Coach?”

I’m on.

Here comes the speech. “I work with powerful women whose dreams are still in their heads or stashed in old journals. I bring women’s passion and gifts to fruition. I use your words as the tools that will make your dreams happen. It’s simple. Does that sound like something you are ready to do?”

“Wow!” my new client would say. “Sign me up!”

And, it will happen. It has to; because the foundation of my coaching is that we all have the power to make things happen when we commit it to paper. I want my clients to write their life.

What would happen next, you ask. Then, she will ask me for my contact information and I will give her my new (fancy) email address, so that she can contact me. Ready for this: I’ll say casually, “My email address is: youcanwriteyourlife@gmail.com. My website will be: http://www.youcanwriteyourlife.com

Impressed, she will say, “Do you have a card?”

Glad she asked because then, I will hand her a crisp white business card, fresh off the presses which reads, simply:

Blank Page Consulting.

Kim Green
Results Coach.

Well, I hope, it will go something like that, once this speech is polished up and ready for the masses. However, I worry that it will never be, me sitting here, imagining it. It will be something like that but I worry that my imaginary exchange and very real first draft, still may not pass muster with Lynn. “It’s not complete,” she’ll say. Or, “it’s not compelling enough.” “There are holes in it.” “It won’t excite the other person as much as it excites you.”

And, I’ll go back and fix it.

But the truth is, it will write itself once I am doing it. Once, I am in the trenches, listening, questioning and genuinely curious about this human being who needs my support to make their life work better. Once I am “dancing in the moment,” it will come to me, who I am in my Coaching Space and then I can write a brief speech and the clients will come pouring through the door. Then, and only then, will I be able to write the darn thing! Not before, I’m afraid.

I said that Lynn sounded excited this week. Rightfully, so! Now that we have touched on marketing ourselves, the next area that we will learn about is “Coaching from the Inside Out.” These discussions will be mostly based on the Wheel of Life, where we will be talking about working with clients to help them identify the meaning of their lives. We will listen, as they will ponder the big questions, like what they truly need in life? Their values? What do they believe? And the biggest answer that they will come away with is, “What is your life’s purpose?”

Although silently we all marveled at this exciting possibility of partnering with people to achieve these A-ha moments, Lynn seemed most excited for us. In doing this important work of preparing our clients for these breakthroughs in their lives, she knows that each of us will have breakthroughs, too.

I’m ready.

To my fellow coaches, Happy New Year! It’s going to be happy and deep.

Kim Green is a writer and a student at The Institute for Life Coach Training. In this blog series, she has documented her experience as she goes through the Foundational training. To read about Kim's journey, click here.