Building your coaching business with learning libraries? You may be wondering what that even means. Well, let me start at the beginning. Pass me the VCR.
Building your coaching business can be difficult. You need to fit in coach training, credentialing, and coaching too. That’s enough to jam your schedule.
Who has got time for business building? That’s where learning libraries have worked for me. Learning libraries are something I first heard about when I worked for an international seminar company, CareerTrack.
Back then (okay, waaay back) I travelled across North America delivering one-day workshops to thousands of career climbers on topics like Dealing with Difficult People, Stress Management, Leadership Skills, Delegation and more. Maybe you attended one of these big public events!
CareerTrack was known at the time for developing resources for something they called ‘learning libraries’. Collections of audiotape and videotape programs for career building and professional development. These programs were available at the seminars and through a catalogue. Maybe you have a few of these videos still on your shelves (send me a pic, I’d love to see what’s still out there). Where is a VCR when you need one?
Individuals and workplaces, built their own suite of development resources so that they could fit learning into their schedule any time.
Hey TED Talks, you weren’t the first 😉 Fast-forward a few decades and a pandemic later. We can access our learning anywhere, anytime. Hello, webinars from the couch in our jammies.
Why Am I Telling You This?
Well, I am NOT an expert in business building. Not by a long shot. I coach and mentor coaches. But, I am a huge fan of self-directed learning and it happens to be my favourite way to figure out how to do something new.
One of my very first books on the topic of business building, when I was first starting out, was The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Fail and What To Do About It. It’s been revised from the first 90’s version.
Building your coaching business with learning libraries is strategic in two ways. First, you can use your library to educate yourself on the latest strategies, tools and techniques for building your coaching business.
Second, if it’s your thing, you can use your learning library to create webinars, workshops, tools and training to teach your clients how to build their businesses! Of course, to respect copyright, you need materials that are intended for that use. I’ll let you know where you can find some in a minute.
I’m beefing up my learning library all the time and adding new skills to my toolbox. Since I work with a lot of coaches who are in business building mode, I’m always sharing my new finds. Especially the stuff I use and love myself.
There are so many things that I wish somebody had told me when I started my first successful business in 1989.
By 2009, when I launched my coaching practice the landscape had completely changed. It’s still changing. Blogs, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok…the list goes on and on.
It’s pretty intimidating for a solopreneur. And, I know I am not the only one looking for this information. Years ago, I bumped into a fabulous resource for all-things business building. True to form, I want to be sure you know about Coach Glue if you are a coach, or if you are looking for great content to reformat and share with your clients.
May I introduce you to Coach Glue?
Founders Melissa and Nicole have built a virtual treasure trove of super-valuable programs to help you take action on your dreams and goals for your business building. You can use these programs for your own learning.
Better yet, if you are thinking about building webinars into your offerings in 2022 and beyond, you can customize this material to share with your clients. Easy-peasy.
If you want to start building your business with learning libraries, this is the place to begin!
You can start with the Ultimate Coaching Bundle
No more running in circles. Now you can have customizable versions of everything you need to run your business most efficiently and effectively.
You get all of this Done-for-You content in .doc format so it’s ready to use. You can customize it as much (or as little) as you would like.
There are tons of other resources on the site too. Take a look, I know you will find something that can rock your professional development world! You can snag the free New Client Package too!
Oh, and if you still have old CareerTrack videotapes hanging around, I’d love to hear about them!
Author: Cathy Shaughnessy
Cathy Shaughnessy is a PRISM award-winning ICF Master Certified Coach and active ICF Assessor. Cathy coaches senior leaders, mentors credentialed coaches, trains fledgeling coaches and creates tools and programs to assist coaches seeking ICF Coach Credentials. Get more information on Cathy’s group mentor coaching programs here. Get more information on Cathy’s ICF CCE unit programs here. Quick links to Resources for Coaches. Click the image below to download the Free Easy Tracking Form for Coaches and get tools and resources from Cathy!
Cathy Shaughnessy is a PRISM award-winning ICF Master Certified Coach and active ICF Assessor. Cathy coaches senior leaders, mentors credentialed coaches, trains fledgeling coaches and creates tools and programs to assist coaches seeking ICF Coach Credentials. Get more information on Cathy’s group mentor coaching programs here. Get more information on Cathy’s ICF CCE unit programs here. Quick links to Resources for Coaches.
Click the image below to download the Free Easy Tracking Form for Coaches and get tools and resources from Cathy!
