The Business Book of Coaching

by Ajit Nawalkha and Neeta Bhushan

 

Today, I would like to share my review of a book called “The Business Book of Coaching” by Ajit Nawalkha and Neeta Bhushan. 

The authors are internationally renowned coaches and entrepreneurs. Ajit is the Co-Founder of Mindvalley and the Host of Evercoach. 

Neeta is an international speaker and best-selling author of Emotional GRIT.

 

I found out about this book in one of the top ratings, and it had great reviews. Since working as a coach requires not only professional skills and embodying the core competencies, but also learning how to market and promote yourself, where and how to find clients, etc. I decided to read this book and I loved it. 

 

I must say that the definition of the “coaching” term itself in the book differs from what we’ve learned with the ICF standards, but it still refers to that “coaching requires an ability to focus on the future”. 

 

What I love about this book is that it is very easy to read. It is written from the 2 authors’ viewpoints and enriched with their personal experiences. 

Each chapter feels fun and is not similar to the previous one. Sometimes there’s more structured teaching, sometimes story-sharing, sometimes use of images to better remember the concepts for the visually active readers. 

 

A truly important feature of this book is that at the end of each chapter, there are “Reflection time” exercises or questions to ask yourself. This gives a great chance for the reader to better learn by immediately “doing the work” and implementing new knowledge. So we can easily refer to this book as a workbook too, and if you could see mine, it's all colourful, highlighted, and with many, many, many written notes and insights! Consider such an aspect to be extremely valuable, and it feels very much in the “coaching objective” of behaviour change and taking action in the momentum. 

 

Another great feature is references and links at the end of each chapter to relevant YouTube videos and free online materials. And this is what makes this book a bit difficult to read because it will take much longer time if, apart from only reading, you are actually checking out all the resources. Some video links are shorter, up to 10-minute videos, but some are longer, even like 40 mins! Of course, it is a great way to immerse yourself fully in studying the topic of “How to actually work and grow as a coach?”.  

 

To be honest, I haven’t seen and checked all the links provided yet, but all the ones that I did I enjoyed and found to be useful! 

It is a great table book to refer to on different topics and even reread it, or at least come back to the extra links to watch. 

 

The authors did their best to create a book that would give you “the essence of all their experience of building successful businesses in different industries”. You will find practical working tools, techniques, and advice tested by hundreds of coaches out there. The book is based on real results that the authors generated for their own clients. It focuses on what is really important and critical to building the business that is powerful, sustainable, and long-term. 

 

The book sections are about:

1. Assumptions and misconceptions about the coaching business, what's false and what’s true,

2. The inner game, which is about the foundational inner features a committed coach should have, 

3. Delivering results, about purpose, methodology, and crafting an offer! 

4. The Essential Coaching toolkit, about sales, packages, and money models, 

5. Building your business, about finding the right clients, serving love, and a business plan. 

6. Playing the long game, about the long-term devotion and winning mindset, overcoming fear of failure, and the secret to success! 

 

My favourite chapter was #21 about “Money Models”, which was actually about ways to attract clients for 1:1 coaching agreements. 

Options described were Book-to--.., Webinar-to.., Course-to.., Content-to.., and Event-to-coaching models. These are all great marketing strategies on how to expose yourself out there in the world, on what kind of coach you are, by immediately providing value to people and showcasing in real action your skills and ability to deliver insights and results. I would say that there are surely more options out there too, like becoming an in-door corporate intern coach for a company, networking, and regularly participating in events, where your target audience may be, etc. And definitely some models require more time, effort, and money investments too, before even starting. Yet these were still great options to see listed altogether in 1 chapter and envision what you feel like doing more in the future. 

 

In conclusion, I would say that “The Business Book of Coaching” would be a beneficial read to coaches at any level or stage of their journey. 

I believe that everyone may find here some new information, useful chapters, tips, tools, ideas, and broaden their perspective on many “How to …?”. 

How to start your coaching business? Or how to grow, upgrade, or transform your existing one? 

 

Wishing everyone a prosperous coaching journey, which may fill your hearts with joy for your clients’ positive life changes, and also fill your bank accounts with decent rewards for all the great efforts, massive studying, and hard work that you do! 

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Reviewed By - Yuliya Chopoydalo