I’ll be entering the 4th year of my coaching business in the coming months, and as I prepare for the launch of something later this year (details soon) and other business projects, I’ve been thinking a lot about growth and scaling up …

Let me ask you a question:

-> Which of these coaches do you consider more “successful”?

(I realize that “successful” is a subjective word, but play along)

Coach A: 
She grosses about $15k/month, with minimal overhead. She hires VA help as needed per project, does very little advertising, and has a home office. She has some profile in her marketplace, but by no means is a household name. She nets about $10k/month after taxes and expenses.

Coach B: He grosses about $40k/month. He has a growing team of help, and has just opened a small office with a nifty recording studio for videos and some other cool bells and whistles. He’s well known in his marketplace with good name recognition. He nets about $15k after taxes and expenses.

If you looked just at the numbers, the answer is that Coach B is the more successful of the two. He’s bringing home $5000 more than Coach A every month, and has more profile and name recognition to boot!

But, look closer, and you’ll see some things:

Many days, Coach B feels like a babysitter managing his growing team. Sure, his office is nice, but he knows that the lease is coming due every 30 days. He’s responsible for employees who have to feed their families – which is no small deal. Yes, his name is out there – people know him - but is happier than Coach A?

Back in my early real estate days, a fellow agent asked me a question:

“Marc, would you rather make $1 Million/year doing something that you hated, or make $100,000 doing something that you loved?”

Without hesitation, I fired back:

“The Million of course!” (that’s a $900,000/year difference?! Show me the money!)

This was a few years after Jerry Maguire came out and that was still a bit of a catchphrase …

Anyways, he seemed surprised and disappointed. He answered “really?”. He said it was a no-brainer that he would go with the $100k, but I thought he was a fool (I was just 21 and full of piss and vinegar …)

I carried that thinking throughout my 20’s, and almost 10 years later my real estate business had grown to 100 employees, two offices in different marketplaces, five companies under one banner …

Pretty successful, right?

It looked good, except that I wasn’t happy. I was a hamster on the proverbial hamster wheel, having to keep running at full speed to keep it all going. And regardless of how fast your little hamster legs run, they can’t go on forever …

That business closed in August 2009. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 7 years now … but I got caught up in the bright lights of scaling up and GROW GROW GROW!

It’s been 17 years since my co-worker asked me that $1 Million vs $100,000 question, and as I reflect now, my answer has changed.

If asked that same question again, I would answer without hesitation. But it would be a different answer.

I’m all for growth. Things have to grow to continue living. You can’t become complacent and rest on your laurels.

But you also have to recognize that success and happiness doesn’t come down to a number on a spreadsheet.

Is there anything wrong with steady, consistent growth?

15% a year?

20% a year?

That’s not too shabby ….

I’ve done the 100%+ growth a year, and I can tell you that it can be a house of cards if you aren’t careful.

I’ve learned that business is a marathon – not a sprint. Try to grow too fast, and you’ll injure yourself and be watching the race from the sidelines.

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If you'd like to chat about scaling your coaching business up, we should chat. Go here: 

www.NaturalBornCoaches.com/call 

Cheers,

Marc