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Today, I’d like to talk to you about legacy. I’ve just been celebrating my Nan’s 102nd birthday. Wow, that’s amazing. And she doesn’t seem like she’s 102. Her mind is sharp, her wits are there, and her sense of humour is amazing. So legacy, is that something you’re thinking of? How do you build a legacy through a coaching business? That’s the topic for today.
What is Legacy?
So when you’re thinking about legacy, do you have those limiting beliefs surrounding it? “Oh, I couldn’t build a legacy. What kind of legacy am I building?” Well, every day you do something, you are building a legacy, whether you like it or not. So, is it about your reputation? Is it about the contribution that you’re making? Is it about the transformation of your clients? So, what will your legacy be? What will people remember you for? Nan is 102 and she’s still talking about the things that she’s going to do next week, next month, and so forth. So, don’t limit yourself. What are the things that you can do?
I’ve just recorded next week’s podcast with Lauren Clemett, and we were talking about making sure that you’re looking at the destination. It’s all about personal branding. And when you think about planning a holiday, you look at that destination and then you work backwards. So maybe legacy is the same. If you were standing there reading your own obituary, what would it say? That’s not necessarily morbid talk. It’s about planning and setting that legacy up for what you would like to be said at your funeral. So have a little think about that.
Your Legacy as a Coach
Sometimes it’s about making a meaningful difference in your clients’ lives. Understanding what your client’s core values are and what they need. As we know, coaching is about future thinking, and it’s about your client—not judging them and not putting your own map on them, but thinking about what it is that they need. How can we help them to clarify their core values? What guides them? What is it that they need from you as a coach? And what do you need to be putting out there in your marketing to make sure that your legacy is written the way that you would like it to be?
Self-reflection is a great thing, whether you’re encouraging your clients or whether you’re doing it yourself. And you should be doing both because you can look back and see what you’ve been doing and then go, “Oh, I could have done that differently,” or “I did this well.” As we know, 20 – 20 hindsight is perfectly clear, but what can you take from those learnings and project forward?
Stop Your Limiting Beliefs
I’m currently listening to The Gap and the Gain by Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan, and they’re talking about setting those goals. So you want to make a target of 30 clients in the next year and you only get 22. But listen to the way that we say it: “You only get…” You got 22 more than you had at the beginning of the year! But what do we concentrate on? We concentrate on the seven that we didn’t get—the 30 minus the 22. We don’t concentrate on that 22 gain. So if you’re having a few issues with negative thinking or you’re not moving as fast as you’d like, check that out: The Gap and the Gain by Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan. It really is a great book, and it’s on Audible, so you can listen to it or you can read it—whichever you prefer, or both.
And thinking of those limiting beliefs—generally, the only person stopping you is you. So make sure that you have the processes to get clear on what it is that you’d like to do and put those things in place. And it might be a case of delegating some of them.
Go Out There
Social media is a good thing to do for your business, but you personally don’t have to do it. And especially if you’ve got a bit of the gift of the gab and you like doing video, then you can always do that and chop it up. I’ve got lots of podcast episodes on different ways to do it, so check those out in the back catalogue if you haven’t already.
But make sure that you are getting out there and not being that best-kept secret, because you’re not going to create a legacy of any description if you’re not doing anything at all. So what are those plans that you would like to make? What would you like to look back on over your life and say, “Oh, that was the day I decided,” and look at what you’ve done so far. Isn’t that amazing? Have a think about that and facilitating those behaviours.
Build A System
And if you’ve got a legacy business, are you setting up the systems, even when it’s only you? Because if you have to do it more than once, then you should have a system. You can video yourself doing it—this ensures that you do it the same way each time. And then, when you do bring on people, it makes it much easier for them.
Delegate Tasks
You might be thinking, “Oh, but I’d never bring on people.” Well, if you want to make money and you want to make that legacy, you can’t work 24/7 and you should not be working 24/7. So you’re going to have to delegate some of these tasks.
You’ve probably heard me talk about it before if you’re a long-term listener. The first thing I delegated out was bookkeeping, and I was spending my whole Christmas holidays doing it. A skilled bookkeeper, knowing what they’re doing, had it all done in a few hours. It was pretty demoralising actually, because I’d spent literally weeks doing it. But I’m not a bookkeeper, and that’s not my forte. So by giving it to somebody else, not only did I free up all that time, but now I know it’s done right. And with changing laws around tax, employee regulations, and all that sort of stuff, I would never have kept up because when I was doing it, it was just me. So sometimes delegating is actually a really good business decision. Why pay someone to learn on the job and do it badly when you can pay someone a much smaller amount to do it properly in the hours they’re being paid for? And then you can use your genius to go out and do your thing.
Another great book is by Dan Martell, and it’s called Buy Back Your Time. He talks about making sure you’re not doing those $25, $45, $50 tasks when your time is worth so much more. Even if you don’t think it is, consider the time it takes you. If a bookkeeper can do that sort of thing in a couple of hours and it takes you weeks, then your hourly rate is getting down to nothing. So make sure that when you are thinking about that, you’ve got your processes sorted, you’re doing the things that you’re really good at, and you’re delegating the rest. Even if it does mean paying someone, it’s often a much better business decision. It means you can get back to doing the work you’re supposed to be doing—helping your clients transform—ensuring you’re doing it to the best of your ability and not just jumping from task to task without doing any of them well.
Social Impact
What is the social impact you’re making? Are you being a role model for people? Are you doing the right things that people would want their children to do, or even themselves? Role models are not just for the young. We should have role models of all ages, and many of us do. So make sure you’re thinking about the social impact you can make as well. Contributions can always be given back to the community as well. We give 1% of our revenue to charities of our choice, and the team picks those choices. Not only does that empower them, but it makes us feel good, and we know we’re doing it month after month because it’s just part of our process. That’s helping to build our legacy as well. So that might be something you want to build into your everyday activities. And as you bring on a team, or if you’ve already got a team, bring them in and empower them as well.
Have a Vision
Having that vision of the future and creating that legacy the way you want it to be is really important. It also helps you to build resilience and emotional intelligence because when you are having a day that’s maybe not as good as it could be, you can say, “Oh well, I know what the big picture is. I know where I’m going, and I can make that happen.” It’s often said that we underestimate what we can do in ten years and overestimate what we can do in a year. So by spreading those goals out, you can make sure they actually happen. Break them down into smaller tasks—monthly, quarterly, daily, weekly—all of those kinds of things to make sure they’re happening and empower your clients by showing them how you’re doing it. Make sure you’re supporting yourself and them.
Building a legacy can make a big difference, and having that mindset is key. It’s often said that you should build your business to sell, whether you actually want to sell it or not is irrelevant. But if you can build a business that works without you, it’s not necessarily about pushing you out or replacing you, but it’s giving you options.
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How do You Build a Legacy Through a Coaching Business
Think about what kind of legacy you are creating and what kind of legacy you’d like to create, because coaching is a wonderful thing and we all need really good coaches. But we need coaches that are not burnt out, not dragging themselves up every day and going, “Oh, here we go again.” We want coaches who are enjoying it, making money, and able to do wonderful things in the world with that money.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 258.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
