You might be even closer than you think to making a big difference for other parents and even making a living doing it. Let’s look at seven important considerations for anyone who wants to get into parent coaching. You might want to follow along if you could open it in a separate window. This quiz has all seven of the considerations listed, and you get to rate yourself as to where you are in that process.
And I’ll actually give you the results and some next steps that you might want to take if you’re actually serious about this. Consideration number one: why? Why do you want to do this? What is your reason? This is so important. Because if you don’t have a strong enough why, it’s going to be a little overwhelming to do all of the hows. And we’re coming back to that one in a little bit. My reason has to do with an experience that I had years ago with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I was attending a speech that Dr. Gupta was giving in Salt Lake City. And if you don’t know him, he’s a brilliant neurosurgeon who’s also a correspondent for CNN. And he was speaking to us on the same day in Salt Lake City, Utah, that he was in Puerto Rico that morning after a devastating hurricane had come through. And just caused all kinds of damage, he reports on these things for CNN. Well, during the Q&A, somebody asked Dr. Gupta. What’s the most disturbing thing that you’ve ever encountered out there? Now, this man has reported on wars, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters and all the health problems that come up as a result of them.
And I’ll actually give you the results and some next steps that you might want to take if you’re actually serious about this. Consideration number one: why? Why do you want to do this? What is your reason? This is so important. Because if you don’t have a strong enough why, it’s going to be a little overwhelming to do all of the hows. And we’re coming back to that one in a little bit. My reason has to do with an experience that I had years ago with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I was attending a speech that Dr. Gupta was giving in Salt Lake City. And if you don’t know him, he’s a brilliant neurosurgeon who’s also a correspondent for CNN. And he was speaking to us on the same day in Salt Lake City, Utah, that he was in Puerto Rico that morning after a devastating hurricane had come through. And just caused all kinds of damage, he reports on these things for CNN. Well, during the Q&A, somebody asked Dr. Gupta. What’s the most disturbing thing that you’ve ever encountered out there? Now, this man has reported on wars, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters and all the health problems that come up as a result of them. He didn’t even hesitate. He said it was an unnecessary death.
And then he clarified; he says I know people die in a hurricane. We get it; that’s part of the deal. But what’s tragic are those people who die after the fact. They don’t have access to food, water, or medical supplies—the things that they need. Even more tragically, all of those things exist in containers, on ships, in ports, and on islands. But there is no distribution process to get it out to the people who need it. It was one week later that I launched this channel, Live on Purpose TV. I had a conversation with Nate Woodbury, who is the co-sponsor of this channel. And we launched in November of 2017. Why? Because people like you need the principles that we talk about here on the channel. This is why I’ve developed my coaching programs. This is why I launched this YouTube channel. The principles are life-saving, and we have to get them to the people who need them. What’s your reason? How clear are you about why? Most of the coaches that I talk to and that I coach and mentor feel called to do this. It’s like their life purpose. They know that they’re supposed to be here. What’s yours? If you’re following along on the quiz, give yourself a rating for number one, and let’s go on to number two. Who do you want to help? Now, we’re talking about parents specifically
But one of our newly certified positivity practitioners has chosen to specifically serve parents from her area of the world in a language that I don’t even speak, okay? That’s not part of my tribe. I’m not reaching out to people who don’t understand English. And that’s not to exclude them. It’s just that that’s not my particular group of people to serve. I’ll love it if you certify this new practitioner. She is able to go serve them. That’s her.. Who’s your who? It almost sounds like we’re getting into a Dr. Seuss book now. Doesn’t it? Who do you get to serve? Be clear about who it is. Now, a lot of beginning coaches fall into the same trap that I’m still vulnerable to. I just want to help everybody, right? And it’s so benevolent to want to help everybody, but that creates a problem with our marketing messages. Because if you want to help everybody, then you’re not speaking to anybody in particular. What if you were to target the group that could best resonate with you and with who you are? That’s the reason for consideration. So, just ask yourself how clear I am about that. Go to the quiz.
If you’ve got that open in a different window, just follow right along. Give yourself a rating, and it’s a kind of zero-to-five thing, okay? How much do you agree with the statement that’s there? And let’s just see where you are. Now, it’s okay if you’re not clear about some of these. That’s fine We’re just trying to identify that as we go through this conversation. The third consideration is: what? What is your message? What is the model? What are the principles that you are called to share with these people? When it comes to parenting specifically, let me give you another example. What you’re going to find there is the model that I share with parents. This is what I believe every parent needs to know and understand in order to interact better with their kids and to know how much control to take. In fact, the model pits control against maturity. You’ll see what that looks like when you go take a look at it. Some of the parenting coaches that I’m training and mentoring don’t have a model. That’s okay. The one that I’m sharing with you today is one that I license to people who become certified positivity practitioners. You don’t have to use my model if you’ve already got one of your own or if it doesn’t make sense for you to use my model.
You don’t have to go through the certification process or the licensing process to use it. But you do have to have something. What is it that you want to share? How clear are you on that? Give yourself a rating on the quiz, and let’s move on. The next iteration is when. Let me just throw this out there. There are reasons and seasons. Is this the right time for you to step up and coach other parents? I don’t know. Because you have seasons in your life. Notice, like when your kids are little, that’s a season. When your kids are older, that’s a different season. If you’ve got a diagnosis with active treatments going on, that’s a season of your life. So, there are seasons, and we have to honor the seasons. And then there are reasons. Now, reasons often become excuses. Because I guarantee that if you want to step up and really make an impact on other people, there will be opposition. Mark my words on this. You will encounter adversity, trials, difficulty, and opposition. I remember watching a movie with my kids when they were younger. You’ve probably seen some of these movies. They’re very popular. And there’s one place where the kids are running away from this big, three-headed dog beast thing named Fluffy. As they got to a place of safety, the girl Hermione was talking to the two boys, Ron and Harry, and saying, Did you notice what it was guarding? And they’re like, What was it guarding?
She had noticed that this monster was in charge of protecting the way, whatever it was. I can’t even remember all the details. But the point that stayed in my mind is that nothing is in your way unless you’re on your way. You’re going to encounter these big beasts that are guarding the treasure. That’s just how it rolls. Nothing is in your way unless you’re already on your way. So, notice that, and let’s not let our reasons become excuses. Because your brain will always find them. How clear are you about when? When is this right for you? Mark it on your quiz. The next consideration is not as complicated, but it’s still something you need to think about. Where am I going to provide this service? In our last positivity practitioner class, I remember there was one of the coaches who came through who wanted to do things in her local community. She wants to get a room at the library or at the community center and do little mini-classes for parents. That’s awesome. I’m thinking of another one of our coaches who wants to do everything online. Nothing in person. Either way is fine. What is it for you that’s something that you need some clarity about? Where am I going to serve my people? Now, this next one is the one that trips up most beginning coaches. How? Remember, as I said earlier, if you’ve got a strong enough why, you’ll figure out the how. And all of this is figured out. I remember several times in my career where I got stuck with, I don’t know, how to do this. There was a book that I read recently by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy. It was brilliant. The book is about who, not how.
What they’re saying is that you don’t need to know everything. In fact, you can’t know everything. But if you invite your mind to ask, who knows how? And how can I interact with that person more effectively? Whether it’s by reading their book, watching their YouTube channel, or listening to their podcast,. Whatever it is, if I can identify someone who knows how, it makes sense for me to get in the room with that person. A couple of years ago, I hired Jody Moore as one of my coaches. In fact, we’ve got a couple of videos here on the channel that Jody collaborated with me to create for you. It was so compelling to me to see what she was doing with her coaching business and realize that I’m not where she is. I want to be in the room with her because I don’t know all the hows. Well, obviously, she knows some of the hows. So, if we ask who, not how,. It helps us get more clear about how. How are we going to do this? What are my marketing systems? What are my sales systems? Now, when I say marketing and sales, sometimes coaches eyes gloss over right about then. Because they’re like, well, I’m not really a salesperson. Look, anybody who owns a business is in sales.
Sales is simply opening the door to your service. How are they going to know about you, get to know you, like you, and trust you enough that they actually hire you? That’s all. But just check in with yourself right now to see how clear I am about the how and put it on your quiz. Now, the last one I’m going to emphasize is ethics. This is number seven on the list that I promised you today. What are the limitations of what I can do? Now, the term coach. There’s some good news and some bad news, okay? Because anybody can become a coach. That is good news, right? Because it’s open to you. That’s also bad news because it’s open to anyone. And some people go into it without a lot of experience or skill sets. They haven’t handled all of the other considerations we talked about here. And sometimes you can do more damage. There’s also licensure and regulation. I go over this in our coach certification course because I know coaches who have been prosecuted for practicing without a license. Practicing what? You don’t need a license to be a coach, right? But you do need a license to do therapy, brain surgery, or dentistry. Okay, now I’m throwing in a couple of obvious examples because there are professions that are regulated and licensed because they work with vulnerable populations. In coaching, it’s easy to cross the line and get into trouble if you don’t know what the limitations are to your practice. So, I’m just asking you to consider how clear I am about the ethics and the limitations of what I can do as a c
And then he clarified; he says I know people die in a hurricane. We get it; that’s part of the deal. But what’s tragic are those people who die after the fact. They don’t have access to food, water, or medical supplies the things that they need. Even more tragically, all of those things exist in containers, on ships, in ports, and on islands. But there is no distribution process to get it out to the people who need it. It was one week later that I launched this channel, Live on Purpose TV. I had a conversation with Nate Woodbury, who is the co-sponsor of this channel. And we launched in November of 2017. Why? Because people like you need the principles that we talk about here on the channel. This is why I’ve developed my coaching programs. This is why I launched this YouTube channel. The principles are life-saving, and we have to get them to the people who need them. What’s your reason? How clear are you about why? Most of the coaches that I talk to and that I coach and mentor feel called to do this. It’s like their life purpose. They know that they’re supposed to be here. What’s yours? If you’re following along on the quiz, give yourself a rating for number one, and let’s go on to number two. Who do you want to help? Now, we’re talking about parents specifically
But one of our newly certified positivity practitioners has chosen to specifically serve parents from her area of the world in a language that I don’t even speak, okay? That’s not part of my tribe. I’m not reaching out to people who don’t understand English. And that’s not to exclude them. It’s just that that’s not my particular group of people to serve. I’ll love it if you certify this new practitioner. She is able to go serve them. That’s her.. Who’s your who? It almost sounds like we’re getting into a Dr. Seuss book now. Doesn’t it? Who do you get to serve? Be clear about who it is. Now, a lot of beginning coaches fall into the same trap that I’m still vulnerable to. I just want to help everybody, right? And it’s so benevolent to want to help everybody, but that creates a problem with our marketing messages. Because if you want to help everybody, then you’re not speaking to anybody in particular. What if you were to target the group that could best resonate with you and with who you are? That’s the reason for consideration. So, just ask yourself how clear I am about that. Go to the quiz.
If you’ve got that open in a different window, just follow right along. Give yourself a rating, and it’s a kind of zero-to-five thing, okay? How much do you agree with the statement that’s there? And let’s just see where you are. Now, it’s okay if you’re not clear about some of these. That’s fine We’re just trying to identify that as we go through this conversation. The third consideration is: what? What is your message? What is the model? What are the principles that you are called to share with these people? When it comes to parenting specifically, let me give you another example. What you’re going to find there is the model that I share with parents. This is what I believe every parent needs to know and understand in order to interact better with their kids and to know how much control to take. In fact, the model pits control against maturity. You’ll see what that looks like when you go take a look at it. Some of the parenting coaches that I’m training and mentoring don’t have a model. That’s okay. The one that I’m sharing with you today is one that I license to people who become certified positivity practitioners. You don’t have to use my model if you’ve already got one of your own or if it doesn’t make sense for you to use my model.
You don’t have to go through the certification process or the licensing process to use it. But you do have to have something. What is it that you want to share? How clear are you on that? Give yourself a rating on the quiz, and let’s move on. The next iteration is when. Let me just throw this out there. There are reasons and seasons. Is this the right time for you to step up and coach other parents? I don’t know. Because you have seasons in your life. Notice, like when your kids are little, that’s a season. When your kids are older, that’s a different season. If you’ve got a diagnosis with active treatments going on, that’s a season of your life. So, there are seasons, and we have to honor the seasons. And then there are reasons. Now, reasons often become excuses. Because I guarantee that if you want to step up and really make an impact on other people, there will be opposition. Mark my words on this. You will encounter adversity, trials, difficulty, and opposition. I remember watching a movie with my kids when they were younger. You’ve probably seen some of these movies. They’re very popular. And there’s one place where the kids are running away from this big, three-headed dog beast thing named Fluffy. As they got to a place of safety, the girl Hermione was talking to the two boys, Ron and Harry, and saying, Did you notice what it was guarding? And they’re like, what was it guarding?
She had noticed that this monster was in charge of protecting the way, whatever it was. I can’t even remember all the details. But the point that stayed in my mind is that nothing is in your way unless you’re on your way. You’re going to encounter these big beasts that are guarding the treasure. That’s just how it rolls. Nothing is in your way unless you’re already on your way. So, notice that, and let’s not let our reasons become excuses. Because your brain will always find them. How clear are you about when? When is this right for you? Mark it on your quiz. The next consideration is not as complicated, but it’s still something you need to think about. Where am I going to provide this service? In our last positivity practitioner class, I remember there was one of the coaches who came through who wanted to do things in her local community. She wants to get a room at the library or at the community center and do little mini-classes for parents. That’s awesome. I’m thinking of another one of our coaches who wants to do everything online. Nothing in person. Either way is fine. What is it for you that’s something that you need some clarity about? Where am I going to serve my people? Now, this next one is the one that trips up most beginning coaches. How? Remember, as I said earlier, if you’ve got a strong enough why, you’ll figure out the how. And all of this is figured out. I remember several times in my career where I got stuck with, I don’t know, how to do this. There was a book that I read recently by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy. It was brilliant. The book is about who, not how.
What they’re saying is that you don’t need to know everything. In fact, you can’t know everything. But if you invite your mind to ask, who knows how? And how can I interact with that person more effectively? Whether it’s by reading their book, watching their YouTube channel, or listening to their podcast,. Whatever it is, If I can identify someone who knows how, it makes sense for me to get in the room with that person. A couple of years ago, I hired Jody Moore as one of my coaches. In fact, we’ve got a couple of videos here on the channel that Jody collaborated with me to create for you. It was so compelling to me to see what she was doing with her coaching business and realize that I’m not where she is. I want to be in the room with her because I don’t know all the hows. Well, obviously, she knows some of the hows. So, if we ask who, not how,. It helps us get more clear about how. How are we going to do this? What are my marketing systems? What are my sales systems? Now, when I say marketing and sales, Sometimes coaches eyes gloss over right about then. Because they’re like, well, I’m not really a salesperson. Look, anybody who owns a business is in sales.
Sales is simply opening the door to your service. How are they going to know about you, get to know you, like you, and trust you enough that they actually hire you? That’s all. And it’s all figure out a bill, it’s all doable. And there are people who know how to connect with them. But just check in with yourself right now to see how clear I am about the how and put it on your quiz. Now, the last one I’m going to emphasize is ethics. This is number seven on the list that I promised you today. What are the limitations of what I can do? Now, the term coach. There’s some good news and some bad news, okay? Because anybody can become a coach. That is good news, right? Because it’s open to you. That’s also bad news because it’s open to anyone. And some people go into it without a lot of experience or skill sets. They haven’t handled all of the other considerations we talked about here. And sometimes you can do more damage. There’s also licensure and regulation. I go over this in our coach certification course because I know coaches who have been prosecuted for practicing without a license. Practicing what? You don’t need a license to be a coach, right? But you do need a license to do therapy, brain surgery, or dentistry. Okay, now I’m throwing in a couple of obvious examples because there are professions that are regulated and licensed because they work with vulnerable populations. In coaching, it’s easy to cross the line and get into trouble if you don’t know what the limitations are to your practice. So, I’m just asking you to consider how clear I am about the ethics and limitations of what I can do as a coach. And then put that on your quiz.