NCCA Newsletter

22 July 2004

Attendees

• John, Joan, Mandy, Irene, Carl, Maggie, Christine, Sue

Joan's fun time

• Joan gave out various greeting cards, and asked people to describe what they would do if this represented the picture which was in a client's mind

News and announcements

• Maggie got Byron Katie to host a conference Q&A call on September 28^th for coaches

Finances - Mandy

• We had about $1300 come in this year, about $250 going out
• Mandy is giving receipts for people who have paid their dues
• We're not sure why the Quicken books disagree with the bank account, Mandy will work on this

Membership dues – Mandy/Carl

• We don't have a clear policy for when people need to pay dues
• We decided to time it on our fiscal year, starting July 1
• We decided to pro-rate someone to 50% if they're joining with less than a half a year to go (January through June)
• Carl will capture this in the membership policy
• ICF's website isn't good at telling us people who live in the region, it's very hard to find out who is an ICF member
• Mandy plans to send a year-end financial report to the ICF, but it's not clear what this is or who to send it to
• Carl and Mandy still need to get together and clean up the membership list

Membership requirements

• ICF is considering two levels of membership – coaches and affiliates
• An affiliate would be someone who wants to connect with the coaching community
• The rates for affiliates is higher than coaches
• For our group we had a desire to distinguish between active and inactive
• Some groups only let you "try" a limited number of meetings, and then you have to either join or leave
• We aren't going to change our current policy of limiting the number of free visits, or ICF membership

New team roles & responsibilities - Sue

• The new leadership team documented roles and responsibilities, this was handed out at the meeting and is on the website at www.nccoaches.org/Circles/Organization.htm
• We've also captured the list of member responsibilities in that list
• The updated NCCA flyer (thanks Bobbie!) is also on the website

ICF News - John

• Proposal: ICF membership won't be extended to coaching schools or consulting companies
• You can reserve an ICF bridge line, for infrequent use.  It's free to members.  It's limited to 150 people.
• (Christine got a dedicated conference line from Konferex www.konferex.com, up to 25 people)
• We are the only chartered chapter in Colorado
• All NCCA members are encouraged to go on the ICF website and list the NCCA as your home chapter
• ICF is going to have a session on web logging for coaches

Meeting place

• The August meeting is here at Golden Corral
• For next quarter, we could use different locations.  The leadership team will discuss it at the planning meeting.  We could also move it to 1:00-3:00 if it was quieter, or not do lunch.

Small business development – Christine

• Keys to success in a coaching business:
  • Deciding whether to make your living being a coach, or not.
  • Get your spouse or partner on board.
  • Picking your niche.  Know yourself, your purpose, your gifts, what you want to be.  Look at your own experiences; others may see your gifts more clearly than you do.
  • Focus on the business part of it.  Get education, network, make a plan.  Put an infrastructure in place.  This is a business, not a practice!  But don't get hung up on infrastructure – it's not a requirement to get started.
  • Get yourself out there and market yourself.  Let people see who you are and how your work.  Be honest.  Have a clear message.  Do it from the client's perspective.  (Resource: www.smallbizoperative.com: Marketing without shame)
    • If you're not asking for business, you're not doing marketing.  Example: contact people one-on-one to see whether they would like to work with you in a coaching context.
    • Avoid trying everything in marketing.  People selling marketing tools are good at convincing you that you need them.
  • Referrals.  Ask clients who are happy with your work to refer others.  "Who else is like you that might get benefit from this?"  Develop some people who will be "pillars" for referrals and networking.
  • Training.  Invest in skills, certification.  This gives clarity around what coaching is and how it helps people.  You have to be good at what you do.  Get magazines and newsletters, attend web classes.
    • Join professional groups, this gives you access to other people in similar situations.  Learn from others around you.  Build relationships.
  • You have to have self-discipline.  Are you putting the degree of effort that it needs?  Think about it all the time.  Sow a lot of seeds, but it's also critical to ask for business.  Follow through.
• Support:
  • Coach – even multiple coaches
  • Use the resources that are around you
  • Notice what areas you need support in.  Seek them out, and ask.
  • The City of Loveland and City of Fort Collins have pretty extensive small business resource guides and contact people to help.

Focus on the coach – Joan

• My business is as much about who I am as what I do
• People are much greater than they give themselves credit for, my job is to help find that astounding energy
• I look for the match between peoples' talent and needs
• I believe that your success is limited by the expanse of your beliefs.  So I work on my beliefs.
• I started my coaching in 1998, focusing on female academicians who had achieved a certain degree of position and recognition
• Resource: E-women network (www.ewomennetwork.com)  Joan can register you to come as a guest to the next meeting on July 28^th.
• I'm looking for group coaching, for invitations, for speaking engagements
• I've done some radio shows in connection with my book Cellular Wisdom.  I did a show in LA a few days ago and got 5 people who contacted me about coaching.
• I promote my coaching by following up on the various activities that I'm doing.
• There are people at the Loveland Small Business Resource Center who will sit down with you and talk about the resources they have that you might need.  This also exists in Fort Collins and Wellington.  "We can sort through what you need and get you connected with resources."
• I rent an office so that when people come for activities that they see a professional environment.  I'm going to have an open house.
• I have a list of about 40 clients that don't see me regularly, they contact me when they have a need.

Next meeting

• Joan requests that next time, for the fun activity, we do the NCCA walk
• Christine might be able to facilitate next month, not sure right at the moment