Imagine working alongside one of your clients who has come to you to coach around connecting in stronger ways with those she serves through her new small business. While exploring options, she identifies several crucial areas that she feels she needs to develop.
What begins to rise to the top is the importance of having materials that communicate with her clients and, even better, that provide important resources.
She keeps exploring.
Sure, she could contract an advertising firm for the smaller items, such as flyers and two-fold brochures. But then, if she could write those herself, what a difference it would make. Not only would she save money, she knows her unique clientele like no one else. Pamphlets might also be good. And then you hear the rise of excitement in her voice when she suggests a creative resource offering that she has thought about often.
She stops. Her enthusiasm flattens as she tells you, “But I’m not a writer.”
“What if you were?” you ask her.
And she begins to dream.
Simplistic perhaps, but did you guess that the client in the above story could be a coach with a coaching business or ministry? Think of all the writing possibilities she might step into.
Think of all of those you might.
An introduction . . .
I’ll introduce myself. I’m Jan Kern. Chronologically, in relationship to the work I’ve done and have built upon, I am an author, writing mentor, and life coach. I’ve been invited by the Christian Coaches Network to write a monthly post to address the important topic of coaching and writing.
Did you notice? Not coaching or writing. Not coaching and maybe writing. But coaching and writing. They go together—quite well, really.
I hope through these posts to explore writing tools and topics that will stir the possibilities for the unique dynamics of your coaching business and ministry. Whether for marketing or in order to provide a few helpful, well-crafted resources for your clients, writing is a tool and skill you can acquire and strengthen.
Another Story—True This Time
Recently I interviewed one of our CCN coaches, Sandy Marshall, for an upcoming new feature for the CCN newsletter. While she shared, she mentioned writing a book, and I was curious about her process. In her own words, she hadn’t been a writer but had heard that writing was a way coaches could increase visibility and showcase what they do.
Her response to that? It hadn’t been on her bucket list of things to do, and beyond that, she didn’t feel she had anything unique to say. She said, “Right away I was dismissive of my own voice.”
How many of us do that? We are coaches who are trained to listen for language that reveal our clients’ belief systems that trip them up, and yet, being human, we as coaches are not immune to dismissing our own unique voice, perhaps especially when it comes to writing.
Thankfully Sandy recognized that right away, and she began to consider what value she might uniquely bring to her clients. She stepped into the writing arena with her own book offering, coauthored with one of her clients. It will be releasing soon, and I’m looking forward to sharing details about that with you in the upcoming interview for the CCN newsletter.
Our Own Writing Arenas
Look around at all the different ways we as coaches can and do use writing. At the very least we need to write clearly in our correspondence with our clients. We can also augment the success of our businesses or ministries and our connection with our clientele when we creatively engage them through our marketing or our client materials and resources.
Begin to dream. What would you like to learn or create in a new way with writing as your tool? What if writing became easier?
(Please feel free to comment and share, particularly what you might like to learn. Truthfully, it would help me as I develop CCN writing workshops for coaches to be offered in 2013.)
Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com
