Acting Successful from the Start

Several decades ago in an interview, Tom Watson, the founder of IBM, was asked: "To what do you attribute IBM’s phenomenal success?" He replied that he started IBM with a picture of how he would act when they’d achieved success. Then, he acted successful from the very beginning. His success strategy began with a winning mindset.

I’ve seen the same strategy in other business owners. At an ICF Chapter meeting, I spoke to a Life Coach who exhibited in every word she said and the way she showed up that she was highly successful already, yet I found out later she’d only been coaching for weeks! Right next to her was another professional coach with years of experience, yet she seemed like a very new coach.

Choose Your Attitude

The first coach wasn’t posing or pretending. Her solid presence came from choosing to act successful from the beginning.

There’s a not-so-winning mindset that often comes with the first few years of being a service entrepreneur: I am new and therefore I should take any client I can get for any price.

That’s how it was for Susan. . .

Susan finished coach training over a year ago and has logged over 100 hours coaching, but she still feels new. She has trouble asking fees that will make her enough money to sustain her coaching business. She imagines that her friends, family and even some prospects don’t take her seriously as a professional coach. But the truth is that Susan doesn’t take herself seriously, and she shows that with many of her actions.

• Taking on less than ideal clients.
   
• Agreeing to sessions at times she’d rather not work.
   
• Discounting her fees to get a new client or reducing her terms to less sessions each month to please a current client.
   
• Setting up barter arrangements with clients whose services she doesn’t really want.
   
• Giving sample sessions that sometimes last hours or giving away additional sessions if the client doesn’t hire her on the spot.

Susan is a natural coach and her clients get great value from their work together. But, no matter how much positive feedback or experience she gets, Susan still acts like a novice coach by:The discount approach is not paying off for Susan. She’s sending an unintended message: “I’m desperate”. Even though they are not consciously aware of it, prospects pick up her message and it dampens their interest in hiring her.

Scarcity Thinking is Contagious

You may be thinking, “Well, it is better to have any client at a lower fee or for fewer sessions than to have none at all.” Possibly — if what you’re after is experience only. But rarely will those non-ideal/half time/half fee clients become ideal clients and pay your full fee in the future. Nor are they likely to refer others to you.

The same energy that led you to compromise on fees or time may influence them to value the coaching less, to lean on you, and to under-invest in the co-creative process. The result is, you’ll work harder for less money, and your clients’ outcomes may suffer too. It’s a losing game.

Perfection Not Necessary

This is not about pretending to be better than you are. It’s about valuing who you are right now, recognizing all that you’ve already accomplished, and seeing yourself as already successful. Another coach, less competent than Susan, may get more clients and may actually serve them better by perceiving herself as a successful professional and valuing her services accordingly. Positive self-perception is a powerful attractor.

What do successful professionals act like? They consistently:

• Highly value their time. Whether it’s coaching hours, marketing hours or other business pursuits, they dedicate their time to achieving their ideal business.
   
• Think of themselves as already successful, charging corresponding fees and setting boundaries.
   
• Only enroll clients that fit their ideal client profile and graciously refer clients who are not the best fit.

Think about it… If you’re already successful, your time is at a premium. New clients happily fit into the time slots you have left because they really want to work with you! They don’t balk at your fees or terms because they perceive that you’re worth it. You can have this effect on prospects just by believing and acting successful right now!