Hi Reader!!
I was three years into my coaching practice when I realized I'd been building someone else's vision of success, not my own.
In those days, I was an internal coach working with people who worked for the same company that I did. I was busy, and I had plenty of people who wanted to talk with me and engage my coaching. From the outside, everything looked like it was working.
But I was exhausted, resentful, and coaching the wrong people in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons.
The problem wasn't my coaching skills or my business strategy. The problem was that I'd never stopped to ask the most fundamental question: What do I actually want my life to look like?
I remember a particular client leaving my office after a conversation that he was thrilled with. I was exhausted. I was tired of helping people in this company plan their way up the org chart without any deeper reflection on who they wanted to be. Yeah, it was working. But I was deeply unsatisfied.
Sound familiar?
Welcome to "How to Be a Working Coach," this is issue number 38. We're taking a departure from our sales series to address something more foundational: your vision. Because here's the truth - all the sales strategies in the world won't help if you're building a practice that doesn't align with the life you actually want to live.
Why Vision Matters More Than You Think
In "Helping People Change," Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith, and Ellen Van Oosten make a compelling case based on decades of research: "When it comes to coaching other people, our research shows that excavating and articulating an individual's personal vision is crucial." (Boyatzis, R. E., Smith, M., & Oosten, V. E. (2019). Helping people change: Coaching with compassion for lifelong learning and growth. Harvard Business Review Press.)
If vision is crucial for coaching our clients, shouldn't it be crucial for coaching ourselves?
Yet most working coaches skip this step entirely. We focus on tactics - how to get clients, what to charge, how to close deals. We optimize the mechanics of our business without ever clarifying what we're optimizing for.
For me, the way out of this came from applying my own coaching skills to my life. I started asking open-ended questions, like, "What's working?" And another hard-hitting one: "what's not working?" After a pretty lengthy list in both areas, I changed the question to "what needs to change?" That's where it really got interesting.
The Cal Newport Framework: Lifestyle-Centric Planning
Author Cal Newport advocates a concept he calls "lifestyle-centric planning" that begins with vision, not tactics. Instead of asking "How do I build a successful coaching practice?" start with "What kind of life do I want to live, and how does coaching fit into that?" (Check out his resources at https://calnewport.com/podcasts/)
This isn't just philosophical navel-gazing. It's strategic business planning that actually works because it accounts for what you really value.
The Holistic Vision Questions
Newport's framework challenges you to build a vision across your whole life, not just your work. Consider a holistic approach linking the daily routines, where you live, income needs, values alignment and other life qualities.
Daily Rhythm:
- What does your ideal daily schedule look like?
- How much time do you want to spend coaching vs. other activities?
- When do you have your best energy, and how does your work align with that?
Location & Environment:
- Where are you living?
- What kind of workspace supports your best coaching?
- How much do you want to travel (or not)?
Relationships & Community:
- Who are you in relationship with?
- How are you serving your community?
- What role does connection play in your work and life?
Values & Meaning:
- What values are you living out on a regular basis?
- How does your coaching practice express those values?
- What legacy are you building?
Financial Reality:
- How much money are you making?
- What does "enough" actually mean for you?
- What financial freedom enables in other areas of your life?
Work Structure:
- What kind of work are you doing?
- What topics energize you vs. drain you?
- Are you a problem-solving coach or a developmental coach?
Success Metrics:
- How are you evaluating success?
- What metrics actually matter to you (beyond revenue)?
- When are you stepping back to confirm your lifestyle is working?
Growth & Development:
- What opportunities are you pursuing?
- What's your personal development plan?
- What's your professional development plan?
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it gives you a holistic picture of the kind of vision you should be pursuing.
The question, "How are you serving in your community?" made me step back and think. I'd been building a business, but the footprint wasn't showing much impact in the communities that mattered to me. So I had to figure out some pro bono or philanthropic applications. That's where FLUXIFY's partnership with Building Hope in the City comes to life. (https://www.buildinghopeinthecity.org/)
I've also had plenty of challenges with how much is enough. You've got a great opportunity as a working coach to find your meaning in more than the bottom line. Please reflect on that.
The Three-Vision Strategy
Newport recommends at least two versions of your vision. I'm advocating for three, because working coaches benefit from thinking in distinct time horizons:
Vision #1: Two Years from Now (The Foundation Phase)
This is your near-term reality check. A brand new coaching practice typically takes 1-2 years to reach repeatable, sustainable income levels. What does your practice look like when it's functioning well?
Critical questions for Year 2 vision:
- What kind of clients are you working with regularly?
- How many clients fill your practice?
- What's your annual revenue, and how does it support your lifestyle?
- What hourly rate (or package pricing) have you established?
- What credentials or training have you completed?
- What does a typical week look like?
My own Year 2 vision example: In two years, I envision my coaching practice looking very different. Probably a smaller list of clients in a particular set of industries. I'll be dedicating more time to developing coaches, designing training, and helping them figure out how to crack the code of building a business that truly matters to them. We're doing well in the training area, but our upcoming newsletter and new initiatives will help us expand our impact into other areas of our clients' lives.
Vision #2: Five Years from Now (The Mastery Phase)
Five years gives you enough time to master your craft, build your reputation, and potentially pivot if needed.
Critical questions for Year 5 vision:
- What specialized expertise have you developed?
- How has your ideal client evolved?
- What additional revenue streams have you created?
- What does your reputation in the market look like?
- How have you balanced growth with sustainability?
- What opportunities have emerged that you couldn't see in Year 2?
Five years is also the sweet spot for credential planning. If you're starting without credentials, five years is enough time to progress from ACC through PCC to MCC. If that's part of your vision, map it explicitly.
Vision #3: Ten Years from Now (The Legacy Phase)
This is about the long game. What's the ultimate expression of your coaching practice? For some coaches, this is retirement planning. For others, it's building something you can scale or sell. For still others, it's transitioning into teaching or consulting.
Critical questions for Year 10 vision:
- How has your work evolved from direct coaching?
- What legacy are you building in the coaching profession?
- How are you mentoring the next generation of coaches?
- What does financial security enable you to do differently?
- What does "success" mean at this stage?
My own situation: I'm actually working through all three visions right now. I have several large-scale changes I want to implement over the next twelve months, so my Year 2 vision is quite detailed. Then I'm letting my imagination run for the 5-year horizon. And since retirement is looming for me, I want a clear picture of what day one of that retirement will look like 10-12 years from now.
The hardest part of this for me is to realize that I probably only have ten good years left in my working career. I still think I'm 32 years old, and I'm not. Leveraging the experience that I gained to this point and offering it in ways that people can take action on gets me up in the morning and, if I'm honest, sometimes keeps me awake at night.
Newport's Three Properties: Income, Location, Work Type
(From the Deep Life Podcast, episode #218 "Work vs. Meaning" https://www.thedeeplife.com/podcasts/episodes/ep-218-work-vs-meaning/)
Newport simplifies business planning into three core properties. For working coaches, these become laser-focused questions:
Property #1: Income
The honest questions:
- What income do you want 1-2 years from now when your practice is thriving?
- What does that income enable in your life?
- What are you willing to do (or not do) to reach that target?
- How does your income goal align with your location and work type preferences?
Don't just pick a number because it sounds good. Calculate what you actually need, add what you want for quality of life, and be honest about whether your target market can support those rates.
Property #2: Location
The geographical questions:
- Where do you want to live?
- Does your ideal location support your target income?
- Are you building a virtual practice, local practice, or hybrid?
- How does location affect your ideal client profile?
Some coaches crave nature and solitude. Others thrive on urban energy. Some want to be location-independent. There is no wrong answer - there's only clarity about what you actually want and whether your business model supports it.
Property #3: Work Type
The coaching questions: For working coaches, work type is the most targeted and specific conversation:
- What kind of coach do you want to be?
- What topics do you want to wrestle with alongside your clients?
- Are you a problem-solving coach or a developmental coach?
- Do you prefer working with leaders in crisis or leaders optimizing performance?
- What kind of transformation excites you most?
Again, there are no wrong answers. But working coaches must be clear on exactly what they're looking to accomplish. You can't be all things to all people and build a sustainable practice.
The Coaching-Specific Vision Elements
Beyond Newport's framework, working coaches need to address specific professional development questions:
Credential Planning:
- What credentials do you want to pursue and when?
- How do those credentials support your income targets?
- What's the investment (time and money) and expected ROI?
Client Portfolio:
- What's your ideal client mix?
- How many total clients sustain your practice?
- What percentage are retainer vs. project-based?
- How does client type align with your work-type preferences?
Professional Development:
- What training will make your vision possible?
- Which mentors or communities will support your growth?
- How do you stay current in your areas of specialization?
Business Infrastructure:
- What systems and tools do you need?
- When do you need support (VA, bookkeeper, marketing help)?
- How does your business structure support your lifestyle goals?
Note: I used Claude from Anthropic to help me generate some of these ideas, but I think they're pretty accurate. These are the kinds of questions that any coach looking to develop their skills in order to support the lifestyle thereafter will need to wrestle with.For example, I knew a few years ago, with the growing impact of team coaching, I needed to add the ACTC (the ICF's Team Coaching Credential) to my portfolio. That became a great professional development opportunity that sharpened me both in individual and team coaching.
From Vision to Action: The 30-60 Day Bridge
Here's where vision becomes practical. By coordinating all three time-horizon visions, you should be able to:
- Identify your next 30-60 day priorities based on what moves you toward Year 2 vision
- Evaluate what's working and what's not by checking current reality against vision
- Make strategic decisions about opportunities that arise
- Say no with confidence to things that don't serve your vision
The vision-to-action framework:
- What must be true in 30 days to stay on track for Year 2 vision?
- What investments (time, money, training) need to happen this quarter?
- What experiments should you run to test your assumptions?
- What should you stop doing because it doesn't serve any of your visions?
Don't avoid the last question. Sometimes stopping doing something is harder than starting or investing in your own development.
Why Most Coaches Skip This Step (And Why You Shouldn't)
Vision work feels indulgent. You have bills to pay. You need clients now. Spending time imagining your life five years from now seems like a luxury you can't afford.
Don't miss this: Skipping vision work is the most expensive mistake you can make.
You'll say yes to the wrong clients. You'll build systems that don't serve you. You'll reach arbitrary goals and feel empty. You'll look up three years later and wonder why you're exhausted despite having a "successful" practice.
Vision work isn't indulgent - it's the foundation of everything else we've covered in this newsletter series. All those sales strategies, pricing frameworks, and closing techniques? They're tools to build the practice you envision, not ends in themselves.
The biggest benefit I've found, as a neurodiverse individual who struggles with ADHD and has a strong attraction to novelty, is that my vision gives me a frame by which I can say no to projects that don't move me toward what I want to accomplish. I'm still not good at saying no, but at least the vision gives me a fighting chance.
This Week's Challenge: Draft Your Three Visions
This is hard work, but worth the effort. Give it the time it deserves. Block 2-3 hours and find a place where you can think without interruption.
Part 1: Brainstorm the Questions (30 minutes) Review all the questions in this newsletter. Add your own. Don't answer them yet - just let them percolate. Which questions make you uncomfortable? Start there.
Part 2: Write Your Year 2 Vision (45 minutes) Be specific. Write in present tense as if you're living it:
- "I work with 8-10 executive clients..."
- "My annual revenue is..."
- "A typical Tuesday looks like..."
- "I live in..."
Include the coaching specifics: client types, rates, credentials, daily rhythm.
Part 3: Imagine Your Year 5 Vision (45 minutes) Let your imagination run. What becomes possible with three more years of mastery?
- How has your expertise evolved?
- What's your reputation in the market?
- What new opportunities have emerged?
- How has your lifestyle changed?
Part 4: Sketch Your Year 10 Vision (30 minutes) This can be less detailed - it's further out. But capture the essence:
- What role does coaching play in your life?
- What legacy are you building?
- What does success mean at this stage?
- What does your ideal day look like?
Part 5: Identify the Gaps (20 minutes) Compare your current reality to your Year 2 vision:
- What's working that you should double down on?
- What needs to change?
- What's the biggest gap between here and there?
- What's the first step to close that gap?
Part 6: Define Your Next 30 Days (10 minutes) Based on your vision analysis:
- What are your top 3 priorities for the next month?
- What should you stop doing?
- What experiment should you run?
- Who do you need to talk to?
This is where everything starts. Not with tactics or strategies, but with clarity about what you're actually building and why.
Your vision matters. Your life matters. Your coaching practice should serve both.
Now go do the work.
Upcoming: Next week in "How to Be a Working Coach", I'd love to answer your questions. Reply to this email with something you want me to tackle in next week's newsletter. We'll begin to work out some of the answers in real-time, right in front of each other. What's on your mind? What's your big question about how to be a working coach? I can't wait to dive in.
Cheers,
Jonathan Reitz & the Working Coach Labs Team
Brought to You By FLUXIFY
If you're thinking about adding an ICF credential or upgrading your credential, or you need a strategy for your renewal, FLUXIFY has you covered.
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