32 Aug 4
===
[00:00:00] As a coaching business owner, what do you do when the worst happens? So this is a topic that I posted about on LinkedIn a few months ago, and it struck a bit of a nerve. I think it had some of the most engagement of anything I've posted on LinkedIn in recent times. So I wanted to take some time today to dive in a bit deeper and just share my thoughts a little bit more with the podcast.
Audience. So specifically I wanna explore today, how do we handle those situations as business owners when things go wrong? And I wanna look at how can we prepare in advance for those situations. And I wanna talk about how do we respond when they do happen, because the truth is. There's no getting out of business without there being mishaps, and there's no getting out of life without there being mishaps, right?
So this is what I'm here to talk about and things can go wrong when I talk about things going wrong, I'm talking about things going wrong on a macro and a micro level, right? [00:01:00] So for example. You might get sick, it happens and maybe you get a little bit sick. Maybe you get a cold, maybe you get the flu.
Maybe you get COVID, but maybe you get a big bit sick, right? Maybe there's something that you don't quickly recover from something that requires ongoing treatment, something that might leave you a little bit incapacitated in, you know, a small or large way over a long period of time. Or maybe your kid has an emergency.
And in our house, these emergencies tend to be more, more emotional rather than physical, but they all count, right? And they all require us to show up for our kids. And honestly, I wanna be present for the emotional emergencies just as much as I wanna be present for the physical emergencies. I wanna, I wanna show up and be present for those just as much as if my kid has a broken arm, right?
So that's important to me. Another thing that could happen, you know, it might be your dog who is allergic to bees, who gets stung by a bee, and this is [00:02:00] pure autobiography. I have a, an anaphylactic dog who is allergic to bees. And let me tell you, there is some stress involved in going for a walk. I have been known to try and squeeze a walk in before a group coaching call and be dealing with a beasting and having to take him in quite a hurry to the vet and, you know, having to reschedule, which is my worst thing.
I hate rescheduling on my clients, so know that I totally get it. But that is an example of things that can go wrong. And then on, you know, maybe the most macro level is that it may be that someone close to you passes away. And some of my toughest times in business have been in the scenario where I have lost a loved one.
So on the surface, when we are business owners, we are so much more flexible, right? We in theory, can choose how and when we work. But in many ways it is much harder to be [00:03:00] flexible when and to respond to these challenges when we are self-employed as opposed to when we were employed by someone else.
Because when you have a job. You get sick leave, you may get carers leave. You may have compassionate leave if you're lucky. You usually have colleagues who can take up some of the slack and you likely have support systems like marketing departments, like, you know, executive assistants like. Interns, any number of support systems.
But in business, the buck really does stop with you. So if you don't work, you don't get paid. And that can make these normal life events, right? Awful but normal. Even more stressful than they are, right? And even the anticipating of these events, or worrying that these events might happen and we might not be able to cope, even that anticipation can be stressful.
For us, and sometimes we are experiencing, we feel like we have to experience that [00:04:00] stress very quietly, right? So we may not feel like we can talk about the downsides of being in business when our friends and our family have supported to us to get us to this place. Or we feel like we are putting a strain on the, the family resources by not bringing as much money in for this growth period.
Right? Or. We might also not even be fully aware that we are holding our breath, worrying that if something might goes wrong, that we might not be able to cope, right? So practically or financially we may not even realize that this is a worry for us. So I have some tips to handle those situations with your business intact, with your wellbeing intact as well as it can be.
So my first tip for you is that you need to allow your clients to show you care and consideration. And by that I mean that if you are unwell or if something is going on, your clients will most likely be very happy to [00:05:00] reschedule and to support you. So on one hand. People are generally kind and considerate and caring.
They care, right? They care and they care about you as a coach. But the other thing is they also want you at your best, right? And so they want, they will, if you give them a chance, they will help you to recover, to deal with the scenario you're in, and to allow you to reconnect when you are at your best.
And also, you know, you might need to allow other folks in your life to show you care as well. So if you're anything like me, you probably, maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously want to be fairly violently independent and. You know, there's a lot behind that. It may be, you know, everyone has a different story, but perhaps there's just, you know, like a feeling of needing to prove that you can do it because you've made this step.
But just remember, there are no gold medals for doing this, this business life without being cared for along the way. So allow your clients and allow other folks [00:06:00] in your life to share you, show you care. Now from a client perspective, the experience that I think back to in this regards is, you know, when my father passed away in 2021.
So it was, it was sudden and it happened in fairly traumatic circumstances. And once I was through the initial shock and I'm, I'm not sure you really ever. Get over that type of shock, but a type of equilibrium is regained. And once I got there a few days later, my first concern was being able to, you know, show up physically, keep it together in the sessions.
And so I actually canceled sessions for a week, I think it was maybe two weeks. And all my clients were of course, delightful and kind and supportive and caring and concerned for me. Right. The second concern that I had, and this is such a coach thing, is that I was worried then about my emotional [00:07:00] capacity to be present with my clients.
I was worried that I would be grappling with so much emotion myself that I wouldn't be able to hold space for them. In fact, I found that I had. Even more capacity, much more capacity than I dreamt of, and that I was able to be there and be fairly present with my clients. And in fact, what I found was this experience and this asking for grace and showing of vulnerability was a point of connection with my clients.
Right? So. The vulnerability that was showing up for me was an extremely human experience that was very relatable for my clients. And in fact, in most cases, it deepened our engagements and it allowed us to have conversations about what really mattered. And so, so, you know, I think allowing that to be the story once you take some time is a gift that I chose to allow [00:08:00] myself to receive.
The second tip I have is to pre-plan to some extent what you'll do in these moments, right? Mostly it's sickness, right? Mostly it's sickness. Mostly it's kid sickness. But what will you do? What will your plan be if suddenly you can't do a coaching session? Or if something happens the day you need to run a workshop, if you have a contingency plan and you communicate it upfront with your clients, you are going to feel much more relaxed.
And so that should be part of your contracting. Right. So in terms of coaching for me. I've always had fairly clear boundaries that I about no shows and rescheduling. And usually I say, look, give me 2044 to 48 hours notice at a minimum. And it would depend on the, the contract, but or, and if there is illness, if there is misadventure, I am always willing to be flexible.
Right. So my clarity. [00:09:00] With that allowed me to be flexible and that was then reciprocated by my clients. And then you know, getting clear with your client upfront about, well, let's say there is an issue with you being unable to run a workshop. What is our contingency? And getting clear like, is this something we would reschedule?
Is this not Rech Schedulable? So we would find an alternative facilitator and they will sort of give you some guidance so at least you know, like you've got some guidance if that happens. And that relates to my third tip, which is to think about the worst case scenarios. And this is a strategy that can allow you to know that you can handle your worst case scenarios in business, right?
And to think about how you would do that. So for example, your worst case scenario, and this has probably been my worst case scenario, might be an angry client, right? That freaks out. Thinks you're terrible, won't reschedule, demands their money back. Right? [00:10:00] Like just thinking about that makes me anxious. And the question is, can you survive that?
And yes, you can and you can think about how you would do that. But if you do this and you realize you can survive the worst case scenario, then you can also handle the more likely results, which are things like. A little bit of irritation. So maybe it's feedback from a coachee that wasn't quite, that your coaching wasn't what they expected, or an unexpected question from a client about whether you're seeing progress with a coachee, which can sort of trigger that.
Oh, I don't know. So. These are like, sometimes the negative feedback is the challenging experience, right? And if you are pre-prepared to handle those, right? So you have your mindset in place, you know what you'll do. When you receive that feedback then, then what you'll find is that you are much prepared, much more prepared when it happens, and particularly if you think about the [00:11:00] worst case scenarios, then when.
The le less worse scenarios come up, you'll cruise through and you'll certainly feel like you're prepared to handle it. My next tip and probably my most important tip is that you really need a support network and you really need good systems that you can rely on in tough times. So for example, who could you hand work to if you needed to suddenly take a few weeks or a few months off?
Who can communicate with your clients if you are incapacitated? Do you have a va? Do you have another coach who has your passwords, who can help you figure out a strategy to do all of this? Who is willing to look after your kids while they're sick? So you can run a leadership team workshop that has been scheduled in person for six months, right?
Who can cook you dinner? And give you a hug so you can hold on at work, get it done, and then fall apart [00:12:00] afterwards. So I recommend writing up a list with all of your contingencies, all of the support you might need, and who is gonna help, and what systems you have in place to, you know, support that. And I should.
Point out that I'm talking about people here, but systems and tools and automations are also really important. But many automations, many tools do require someone to know how to log into them, someone to operate them, someone to even know that they exist in order to work. My final tips, so tip number five is that these scenarios, these tricky scenarios, particularly the more.
Significant ones. This is when your insurances that you may have been paying for for years not thinking about, or you might have always put them off, this is when they come into their own. So if you are incapacitated, do you have trauma insurance, income protection, insurance, [00:13:00] total and permanent disability insurance.
Now you need to get, this is absolutely not advice of any sort. You need to get advice on which ones you need and. You also need to get advice on whether the ones you've had as an employee are equally relevant now that you are self-employed. And particularly things like income protection insurance becomes challenging when you have a fluctuating or inconsistent income, so just make sure that you double check any insurances that you have to make sure that you are not paying for insurance, that you wouldn't be able to leverage when the time comes.
So double check those things. Okay. So thinking through this has really reminded me that I need to go back and rethink some of my backups, my support systems. And if you would like to discuss your business and you know, how do you prepare for. For these scenarios in the context of your business, I've got a link in the show notes to book [00:14:00] a call with me.
I would love to talk to you about your business, how you can be supported, and what you should consider when you are building your contingency plans. So head to the show notes and you can book in or you can just head over to ellie scarf.com/book a call. I'll be back next week with some more.
