The Best Practices of Professional Coaching Comes to Ireland

Professional coaching as a field may be growing, but many of its members are failing financially. The Ireland Chapter of the International Coach Federation is leading the European coaching movement by sponsoring a workshop to help its members succeed.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 7, 2004 -- Personal and business coaching is one of the fastest growing fields in America according to Entrepreneur magazine. With an estimated 50,000 professional coaches worldwide it is a small, but growing industry. Coaches usually specialize in specific areas, but many focus on how to increase individual productivity and business performance.

However, recent research indicates half of professional coaches are failing financially in their own business and make less than $20,000 a year. Stephen Fairley, a Chicago based Small Business Coach, is the author of the bestselling book, Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching (Wiley, 2003). In 2002, he conducted the first ever, nation-wide survey of more than 300 professional coaches to determine what separates financially successful coaches from unsuccessful ones.

The results were startling:
•   Fewer than one-third of professional coaches make more than $10,000 their first year in practice.
•   Only 60% of personal coaches have been able to find 10 paying clients by the end of their second year in practice.
•   Less than 8% of all business coaches make more than $100,000 a year.

Fairley has presented his research findings at several regional and national associations including the June 2004 annual conference of CoachVille, the worlds largest organization of coaches, where he was presented with a prestigious award for his ground-breaking research into practice development.

For the first time, he is presenting his pioneering work in Ireland. On September 18, the Ireland Chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF) will be sponsoring an all-day workshop with Stephen Fairley on 10 Strategies for Building a Financially Successful Coaching Practice."

Ms. Pemo Theodore, president of the Ireland Chapter, contacted Mr. Fairley earlier this year to set up the event. Ms. Theodore is an Australian business coach who has been practicing in Ireland for three years and says I have seen most coaches and many small businesses fail to put a solid strategy into place for building business and increasing profits. We are often overwhelmed by all the different jobs for which we are responsible and can lose focus on why we have started that business in the first place." To register for the conference, you may contact Ms. Theodore at +353 (0)1 644 9689 or pemo@star-consulting.net.

She notes that almost half of all small businesses fail in the first couple of years due to their lack of focus. I feel Stephen Fairley really addresses the core issues and realities that we face as professional coaches and small business owners. He offers proven strategies to achieve our desired outcome, which is a financially successful business! I am happy he agreed to come and give this workshop to benefit Irish coaches and all other small business owners who desire greater profits! Coaching is all about helping people work smarter rather than harder!"

Professional coaching is still relatively new in the marketplace, especially Ireland," says Fairley, If it is to continue to grow and move beyond a trend to a recognized profession, we have to ensure the financial success of our members. The reason I wrote this book is to lay out a step-by-step, researched-based approach to practice building." Evidently he did something right because in less than two months his new book landed on the national bestsellers list at Amazon.com and is currently the number one ranked book in the field of professional coaching.

Fairley makes a point of emphasizing his primary business is coaching small business owners and entrepreneurs, not other coaches. There are too many coaches making most of their money from teaching new coaches just entering the field. I think this is wrong and one of the ways I help is to show coaches where and how to find 'real clients."

About Stephen Fairley and the Ireland Chapter of the International Coach Federation
Stephen Fairley is a Small Business Coach and president of Today's Leadership Coaching (http://www.TodaysLeadership.com), a Chicago based, small business coaching firm. He specializes in helping professional service companies rapidly increase their revenues and find new clients fast. Stephen is a professional speaker and bestselling author of three books including: Practice Made Perfect: 10 Principles for Marketing Your Services and Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching. For more information, you can contact Stephen Fairley at (888)-588-5891 or Info@TodaysLeadership.com.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the worlds largest not-for-profit professional association for personal and business coaches with more than 7000 members with 132 chapters in 29 countries worldwide. The Ireland chapter of the ICF has more than 60 members and is led by Ms. Pemo Theodore. For more information or to register for the conference contact her at +353 (0)1 644 9689 or pemo@star-consulting.net.

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