Sometimes, my clients ask me why I became a business coach.
It’s a good question: I was a pretty unlikely candidate for it.
In 1993, I was an associate pastor in a small church in Lancaster, PA.
I loved my work—and had a real passion for it. The people were like family to me. To this day, I look back with great fondness on the incredible experiences I had and friendships I made as I served a close-knit congregation.
But as much as I loved what I was doing, there was a problem.
I felt like there was more in store for me.
I’m a family man. I have a beautiful, supportive wife, and four incredible children. And it’s tough to support a family on $30,000 a year…even in 1993…which was all our little congregation could provide me.
I began to wonder if perhaps there was something else I could do.
I realized that even with all the good I was doing as a pastor, my small income limited more than my lifestyle: it limited my circle of influence. If I could just grow my personal wealth, I thought, I’ll be able to do even MORE good in the community, and the world at large (not to mention relieve some of the pressure off my wife and family).
So I began to look around at other options.
Now, before I go any further, I want to be clear that I have tremendous respect for those who sacrifice money and time to work in service-oriented fields. We need pastors, teachers, social workers, firefighters, soldiers, law enforcement officers—desperately. I don’t want to take anything away from those who pursue these noble professions. Their influence has meant everything in my life and in the lives of those I love.
But I had another path.
Finding Business Coaching
My search took me high and low. I considered real estate, network marketing, internet businesses, and retail.
Then I stumbled upon a niche I’d never even heard of before: business coaching.
As soon as I learned about it, I just knew it was for me. I loved the idea of working with business owners and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and improve the quality of life for their employees and families. It fit perfectly with my passion for people and my pastoral gifts.
As soon as I learned about it, I just knew it was for me. I loved the idea of working with business owners and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and improve the quality of life for their employees and families.
Though I had little professional or entrepreneurial experience, I knew I had a lot to offer. I was good at leadership development, training, communication, team building, and personal counseling.
A web search for business coaching franchises led me to one of the world’s largest and most ubiquitous business coaching franchise systems and just six months later I was a new franchisee.
I contributed $9,000—my last and ONLY bit of money—to a pool of start-up capital with a business partner…and off we went.
My poor family. We went from almost nothing coming in to literally nothing.
Because I was a miserable failure.
I mean, TERRIBLE.
Like most entrepreneurs, I came to the horrible realization that I would quickly go broke if I didn’t start selling, and fast. If you’re a fellow entrepreneur, I’m sure you know the feeling.
I mean, I had NO business network in my community, NO clout, and very little cash to invest in marketing. To this day, I still marvel at it all.
A pastor starting a business to coach business owners?
What on earth was I thinking?
But despite all the setbacks, I was 100% committed to building a great business by learning how to acquire clients I could truly help—and who would be happy to pay me for real, practical, money-making value.
It took a few months, and more than a few financial close-calls, but I finally landed my first client. Then three more. And suddenly I had banked my first $10,000 month.
I can’t tell you how good it felt to make as much in a quarter as I previously made in an entire year.
How close are you to that breakthrough?
The fact that you’re here means that you’re closer than you were yesterday.
Keep at it. Don’t quit.
Soon enough, you’ll be able to tell your own “Why I became a business coach” story. It’s closer than you think!
To get you there faster, download our FREE ebook, How to Become a Business Coach, for a step-by-step guide!
