Don't do what I did

I want to share my experience with a bad coach. 

I feel this is important to share the more that I grow in the coaching world as a coach myself. Because coaches are not cheap.

Especially in health and wellness where we have a warped view of what things should cost because of our weird Healthcare System.

But coaching is different than medicine. Coaching is really a holistic approach. But that's another story - more on that later.

For now I just want to acknowledge that it can feel like a financial stretch to hire a coach. It's not something that everybody plans for in their budget.

I know because I've been there myself.

I've hired a variety of different types of coaches. And for the most part they've been awesome experiences that have helped me grow and shift things in my life for the better. I've hired a relationship coach. I've hired a parenting coach. I've hired a health coach.

And I've hired a business coach.

At this point I've heard multiple business coaches. But the one that I want to talk about is my first business coach. Because unfortunately that was probably the most expensive coaching experience that I've had... and the most disappointing.

In hindsight I can tell you the reasons why. And that's exactly what I'm going to do because I don't want anyone else to have that experience! 

But I'll also tell you what was valuable about the experience.

So, why was this experience so disappointing? 

I can tell you a lot of little things that went wrong.

She gave me business advice that I believe was out of order.

She told me to spend money on ads when I really still needed to be defining my program. 

She emphasized an online business model, when I thrive better in person. 

She came from a life coaching background and really let me "Lead the way" - when the type of coaching that I (now) know I need actually has a lot of direction and guidance. 

But the most important thing is this... I bought a three month coaching package without ever having spoken to this woman!!!!! 

I'm honestly kind of embarrassed to put that in print... and you have to promise not to tell my husband that little nugget! Haha!

But for real... this woman had a particular knack at writing compelling emails, and I read one of them... and just bought her program. 

What I SHOULD have done was booked a dang call with her, asked a lot of questions, and gotten a sense of if this was realistic for me and my life. 

But you know what?

I don't regret it. Because even with a disappointing coaching experience I've learned a LOT. I leaned a lot about what WILL Serve me as I go forward, and I've been smarter (and bit more cautious) about how I spend money on coaches.

And since then I've gotten some AMAZING advice form some AMAZING coaches. 

And you know what the BEST part is? I actually know that I would NEVER want to have one of my clients feel about me the way I feel about her. So it's weirdly come out as both major inspiration and major street smarts that I only want to have clients work with me who I KNOW I can serve. 

But guess what! I don't know if I can serve you if I've never spoken to you.

Want to chat? Reserve your spot at calendly.com/alegrahealthy

Not sure if you want to chat? Get on my email list here and follow my words for a while.