Additional Income-Generating Activities for Public Speakers 1 – Coaching and/or Mentoring

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Don't Leave Money on the "Table"!

Speaking is one of the most rewarding professions that I know of. It is one of the few professions where most of us get paid to speak on our topic of passion, while we also get to travel and meet lots and lots of wonderful people… Most of us speakers totally love this life-style and would not give it up for anything in the world.

However, some of us are parents, spouses… or just tired from being on the road all the time… so it’s important to develop some new sources of income, while still capitalizing on your expertise.

One of the ways to get to stay home and generate some substantial income ($450 to $1000+ per client per month) is through Coaching and/or Mentoring (I say “and/or” because some of us blurr the lines between the two – we might sell “it” as “coaching,” but we provide both).

Here’s the difference between the two:

“Real” coaching is based on

  1. The assumption that the client knows what’s best for him/her, but is not doing it [procrastination, overwhelm, fear, etc.]
  2. The client has all the answers
  3. The client might not know the answers to some of the challenges s/he faces, but the coach – through empowering questions [and this is key] – will HELP THE CLIENT COME UP WITH THE RIGHT ANSWERS.
  4. The coach helps the client recognize barriers to the client’s success
  5. The coach holds the client accountable to their commitmentsA coach- in theory – should be someone who listens DEEPLY and asks [not leading questions] questions to help the client get clarity; and one of the most powerful element of coaching is to hold the client ACCOUNTABLE to what they commit to.

To be an effective coach, [in theory] one does not need to be an expert in the area they coach – they simply need to know how to listen deeply and ask empowering questions. BUT – and in my book it is a “BUT” with capital letters – there are areas of coaching where being an expert in the area the clients needs coaching [or at least some extensive experience] is surely a great plus [such as executive coaching, business success coaching, write and promote your book coaching, etc., etc.]
MENTORING is similar to coaching in the sense that the mentor is still listening deeply, but the mentor’s main job is not so much to listen and ask questions, but to show step by step how to do something.
In coaching, the coach listens more; in mentoring, the mentor talks and educates, instructs, shows, etc. how to do something [marketing mentoring, get publicity mentoring, become a paid speaker mentoring, etc.]
What is happening, however, is that most coaching/mentoring professionals blurr the lines and they provide both mentoring and coachig; and often teh mentees often expect both…
What I noticed is that often mentors sell their services under the “coaching” label. …and in my opinion it does not really matter, as long as the client gets what s/he pays for.

Some clients, however, are very specific about what they want; that’s why it is really important to clarify in the very first session whether the client wants coaching or wants you, the coach/mentor, to provide your expertise/experience/opinion/suggestions/etc.

Side note: a real coach is a person who is trained [and is usually certified] to be a coach – there are some very specific skills and tools a coach needs to posess in order to be effective. A mentor is already trained – they just share their expertise [however, it is helpful for mentors to get some training in “listening skills” in order not to miss what the mentte is really shooting for, hence maximizing the mentoring “sessions.”

There are some great books on how to promote your coaching and on how to become a better coach. Simply type in “coaching” in the amazon search box an dyou’ll get hundreds of great results. OR write in the comments section “Send me list of Coaching Training/Marketing Books” and I’ll email you my top 15 titles.

One of the best books on promoting your coaching, I found to be C.J. Hyden’s “Get Clients Now” book.

Of course, as speakers, you can always subtly promote your coaching during your speaking programs. Simply mention coaching clients’ success stories (without mentioning names) and can even mention once or twice (once at the very end of your presentation) that you have a few openings for mentees (or coaching clients). You can say something like “If anyone is interested in taking these concepts to next level,” or “if you want to work one on one with me to help you apply this in your business/life/etc”

Write in the coments section if you have any questions about how to get started, or how to get more clietns…