Executive Coaching as an alternate career for Senior Executives
Executive Coaching as an alternate career for Senior Executives
There comes a point in every professional’s life when they feel that they are tired of the daily rut at work. It has been seen that there is a tendency among successful Executives to move towards Executive Coaching, Peak Performance Coaching, and Business Coaching as an alternate career track. Here one can leverage Business experience, Networking skills, as well as Sales and Marketing knowledge gained through corporate experience. Senior Executives have an added advantage – their natural tendency to get into good Rapport with their Coaching clients, as they would relate to the Life experiences of these high profile Coaches, who once were Senior Executives. This feeling of being an Entrepreneur, being in control of things, is what provides Satisfaction to such Senior Executives.
Senior Executives have lot of things going in their favor when they take the first step towards becoming a Coach. Senior Executives are financially stable, and will have a financial cushion to sustain while they are establishing their brand in the market. Generally speaking, Senior Executives have a very good educational background, and that would provide a good starting point to create an impression with potential clients. They have very good interpersonal skills, considering they are successful in their corporate careers. They would have attended many networking events, and hence can easily leverage their existing network to set up a Coaching Brand. Senior Executives as a Coach would get buy in from Corporates to coach their Managers, Senior Manager, and Executives.
Becoming a Coach is a very good option for Senior Executives to explore one’s entrepreneurial journey while still being employed full time in an organization, as one can avoid financial pressure that usually happens with start-ups with limited cash flow. A person can easily start as a part time Coach, and can utilize Personal Time after work and during weekends to get his/her feet wet and establish oneself as a Coach. This way a person gets enough experience before they take a call to quit their full time job, and become a full time Coach. It usually takes 3-4 years to establish oneself as a coach and gain recognition in the market. Also, this is a Business which thrives mostly on recurring clients and future clients through word of mouth. There is a period when a person is starting as a Coach where there will be long periods of less business or no business. Having a full time job at this point removes the pressure to earn money, while still being able to continue to focus on getting clients, and explore different options to get Coaching practice going.
