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Introduction
Many coaches offer seminars and workshops in their communities. The target market may be individuals, small businesses, or individuals and companies within a certain industry. Workshops and seminars may be based on a topic or a skill that participants want to master.

Usually the coach facilitating the seminar creates the marketing material, implements the marketing plan, and finds the participants for the workshop/seminar. This differs from Bonus Stream 4: Adult Education seminars in which the marketing is done by the school board or sponsoring organization.

Participants usually pay a fee to take the seminar. The duration of a seminar or workshop ranges from an hour or two to a full day or weekend.

Additional income can be made from back of the room sales of products. If a participant or company likes your style, you may get a new coaching client.

Real World Example

Dr. Ing. Richard Grillenbeck
business-coach.de | info@business-coach.de

Hi my name is Richard Grillenbeck and I conduct local seminars on time management and work-life balancing in Germany. The latter, especially designed for couples, I call "Live, Love and Simplify." I created the seminar together with a friend and partner using different tools like books, articles and - very importantly - our own experiences with our partners and clients.

In my work as a Trainer and Consultant for different companies (adidas, Siemens, and others) I often talk during the breaks or lunchtime with clients about topics not related to the job, but about the circumstances in the company, traveling, family and so on. I realized very early that people get a lot of value from their jobs, but if one does not care about one's private life, too, there is a big gap in his/her life.

In 1998, when I started my own business as trainer and coach, I "misused" my time as well. My wife and I went through a lot of changes that year: new family member (our son), new job, new house, new neighbourhood. Great experiences, but I concentrated too much on job, career, offers and orders. I did that so intensively that in the spring of 1999, it created a crisis in our life. Only by talking, talking and talking, about creating solutions, such as less travel, less work, fewer seminars - and that means looking at our values and common goals - we managed our life a lot better from that moment on.

Some months later I realized that these weeks of struggling could be a great resource for other people also. Someone could learn something from my story without going through the same hurtful experiences. So together with my family, I decided to create seminars and workshops on that topic. These seminars take place in beautiful hotels near our city, which reduces traveling times and gives me opportunities to take my family with me. The workshop "Live Love and Simplify" was held two times this year, each with 12 people, and more are scheduled.

Other seminars I created are "Time Management and Effective Work," or more related to my consulting experiences: "Customer Relationship Management" where participants can find out what CRM is and which strategies for their company could be the best.

These seminars I offer on my web site to everybody (in-house seminars) as well as directly to training companies and academies to get me listed in their catalogs. Working together with these training centers brings me the advantage of using their marketing experiences and contacts as well as getting a fixed amount of income per day (minimum 500 EUR). Their advantage is that the more participants they get, the more they earn. So they are very interested to fill the course.

Participants in my own seminars pay - depending on the subject - from 200 EUR to 300 EUR per day (hotel and meal included). 10%-20% are interested in a one-to-one coaching after the seminar. My one-to-one coaching packages range from 75 EUR - 190 EUR per month. (For companies I have other arrangements; they pay per day.) If someone wants an individual package she/he invests 70 EUR for one coaching hour. For international readers: 1 EUR is approx. 1 USD

Carol Naff & Reuel Hunt
rjhunt@earthlink.net | carolnaff@netzero.net

"Coaches Contributing to Colorado" Teambuilding workshops are delivered to Boards of Directors and Staff of nonprofit organizations, preceded and followed by triad coaching with each participant. This provides a community service to the charitable nonprofits and raises the awareness of the benefits of professional coaching in the community. It introduces coaching to board members and management of local nonprofit organizations - without charge - to build stronger teams, further their personal and professional development, and increase the effectiveness of the organization. Our target clients are charitable nonprofit organizations with corporate executives and other community centers of influence on their Boards. Boards who have used this service have experienced renewed vigor; improved teamwork, commitment, shared-vision, and direction; and an improved match of board members' skills, talents, and gifts to their contribution to the organization.

The triad coaching is done with a lead coach (seasoned coach) and a support coach (newer coach) with the nonprofit organizations. Also included are three bridge calls with all the coaches to prepare for the workshop, the follow-up coaching, and in preparation of the final report. This builds camaraderie within the coaching community, provides diverse coaching experiences for the participating coaches, and is an excellent education tool for all the coaches.

The teambuilding workshop is customized to the needs of the organization and includes several highly effective exercises selected specifically for that organization based on the pre-workshop coaching sessions, the bridge calls with all the participating coaches, and interviews with the Board President and/or the Executive Director. A clear vision, with specific and measurable goals, and a plan of action for the organization are expected outcomes of the workshops.

The follow-up coaching sessions are also used to further clarify actions identified at the workshop and to clarify actions that each participant will take to strengthen the organization and enhance individual contributions. At times, members decide to resign from the board, once there is heightened understanding of expectations, direction, and goals. A final report is delivered to the board at a subsequent board meeting, highlighting the results, expectations, and follow-up actions of the board.

Benefits for the coaches:

• what people in your area are interested in exploring and developing
• who they are
• where they are located
• the industries in which they work
• how to access them

A special and exciting advantage to local events is that you can build a program from them. Local events allow you to test-drive your program. Your program quickly becomes an additional product or service.

Local events also allow you to develop your own niche more effortlessly. You can learn what people in your area want, are willing to pay for, and how much they are willing to pay. This is an especially nice added perk, as most coaches are flexible in what they can do with their coaching skills. For me, narrowing down to a niche was difficult because I love every aspect of coaching, many industries and my experiences brought me in contact with a wide variety of people. I knew I could service a broad range of industries and situations. Through public events, prospects and clients found me and told me what they wanted.

Who does best with local events?

• Coaches who love to work with groups
• Coaches who love to organize and coordinate events
• Coaches who enjoy organizing and formalizing their own knowledge base
• Coaches who are willing to go for it with no guarantees

For coaches willing to develop the ability to work with groups, organize and formalize their knowledge, and focus on doing what they love to do without guarantees of the outcome, it is an exciting addition to your marketing as well as your product and service line.

Related resources
Coachville's 150-point planning checklist
(PDF file; requires Adobe acrobat).

The above service is from CoachVille.com.

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