Friday, June 29, 2007

Achieve Success - Hire A Coach


A writer needs a coach for the same reason an athlete does. For instance, consider Joe Blanton, pitcher for the Oakland A’s. He did not tie an Oakland rookie record of 12 wins in 2005 with out a coach, nor did he throw his first shutout on May 31 against the Royals without a pitching coach.

I am not a coach, but I am a “coach-ee” and my “coach-er” is Lisa Gates from Design Your Writing Life. I met Lisa right here in the blogosphere and she taught me how to define the difference between the “I have to’s” and the “I am committed to’s” for my writing career and personal life (among other things).

I have to…oops…I am committed to writing my book proposal by September. See what I mean?

Are you finding yourself spending time on unproductive work? What is unproductive work? For me it is washing dishes, cooking, or cleaning house. All of these things can be hired out. Why should you do anything that you can pay someone else to do or have your partner do? Thus, freeing up more time to spend on your writing.

Are you earning enough money? Of course not but a coach will show you ways to improve in that area.

Are you good at what you do but you are not getting the desired results? This is probably true for most of us. A coach will show you how to get the desired result.

Coaches smooth the progress for their clients in gaining confidence, establishing goals, building a strong foundation and becoming successful. Through Lisa’s coaching I was able to come up with a dynamite motto which will inform my target audience what I do. When I fine tune it, I will be ready to publish.

Hiring a writing coach is not about having someone check grammar and punctuation, although they are quite capable and experienced in that field. A coach gives support, listens and teaches. Furthermore, the objectivity they provide is tremendous because they are not so embedded in your trees that they can’t see your forest.


Write it down,

Carma