You never know what might show up

"Well hello there Imposter Syndrome, it's been a while" I thought as an epiphany erupted.

It's been a long week. Lot's of meetings and workshops and facilitating and going over the same things multiple times. Then it was time to do my coaching coursework to keep up to date before the practical side of things kicks off in September (more on that later).

Now my method of doing my coursework is to watch the video training sessions and then try out the integration exercises. Except this week, we had two videos. I watched the first and thought, OK sure let's go and do the integration stuff.. actually no, I'll watch the second one before that.

The second video was about how to get clients to practice with during the practical part of the certification. This is something, I can now recognise, that I have been putting off and hoping it will sort itself out.

I was watching the video, which included things like "should I charge the client money while we do the practice". The answer was, it's up to me to choose. Fine, I thought, I can do this for free, I don't feel like anyone would want to pay me for this anyway.
The video went on to talk about, if you do decide to charge a fee, how much should you charge?

At this point, the video was discussing how much it would usually cost for someone to do the 12 week coaching course with a certified coach. Minimum of £1000 or you're giving it away too cheaply said the video.

...

What?
Seriously?
£1000 for 12 weeks is giving things away cheaply???
But... but I was going to do this for free, or maximum of about £120, you know, like tutoring, or babysitting... because... well... hmmm...

This sparked an epiphany. Why am I going to do this for free, or for about £10 an hour? I've paid a fair wedge of money for this course, to invest in myself and learn new skills which I can then help other people with. These skills are not easy to master and I've put in a lot of time and effort and money to learn and master them. They certainly take a lot more skill than babysitting did when I'd basically spend an evening watching TV, eating whatever had been left out and hoping the kids would stay in bed so I didn't actually have to do anything other than be in the house with them... (I wasn't a great babysitter...)

Anyway, back to the epiphany. If I want to coach people as a business in future then of course I'm going to have to charge money, otherwise I'm not a business, I'm a charity... and a broke one at that.

It was at that point I realised, this is imposter syndrome in it's purest form. Et voila, we're back at the sentence from the start of this post: "Well hello there Imposter Syndrome, it's been a while". And the really nice thing is, it actually has been a while! I've got far more used to trusting my intuition and myself recently, so much so that my self belief is now much higher and I'm no longer questioning my every move.

It was a surprise then to see that Imposter Syndrome was back, until it hit me. This isn't new. This is the limiting belief which I've been carrying since this course began in April.

Until today, I had not even considered the possibility that I might think that people wouldn't be interested in paying for coaching services if I offered them as a business. Pretty flawed business plan right there, "I'll give you my time and skill for free and you'll get better and solve your problems and... then... I will have no money and won't eat..." Hmmm... no. No doing that.

If I'm going to offer coaching, I need something in return for my time and effort and skill. Not least, I need commitment from my coachee so that they will complete the program with me so I can submit the evidence required to get certified.

So, will I be charging my practice clients while I'm doing the practical training portion of the course and working towards certification? I'm still not certain on that one. What I do know, is that there will be an exchange of some sort, and I have time to figure that out.

Will I be charging anyone who uses my coaching skills after the certification? Well... yes! If I'm going to do this as a business, even as a side business, I will need to have some sort of financial viability to go with it. This could be monetary, trading or bartering of services for something else... who knows, maybe I'll ask to be paid in cheese and sweets and gin. I don't know yet.

My point is, having now realised I had a limiting belief that no one would ever want to pay me for my coaching skill and I had no right to ask them to do so, I have been able to reflect on this and release it. And now I have much better clarity on what I could expect as an exchange of time, energy and money (mine and the coachee's) in return for the coaching service I will be providing. Having worked this out, I now feel much lighter and less worried. This has had an added impact that I've now stopped procrastinating and have actually started reaching out to my network to find people who could go through the programme with me. First step, done!

"Well that's all well and good for you, but how does this help me?!" I hear you cry Dear Reader.

It helps you twofold:
Number 1) If I can spot a limiting belief, so can you, if you look for it.
Number 2) If you really can't find what's keeping you stuck, then I could help! Have I mentioned I'm training to be a coach and that I need coaching clients to do some practical training with?? (See the 900 or so words above if you missed that part ;) )

If you'd like to find out more about what the 12 week program entails, please get in touch. I'd love to hear from you, or any other women you know who you think could use a hand to become an even better version of themselves without burning themselves into the ground or stuttering under the weight of Imposter Syndrome.

Once you take that first bold move to becoming unstuck and really finding out who you are, what you want and where you want to go with life, you never know what might show up!