I grew up in a small fishing community on the East Coast of Canada called Maces Bay, and I come from a family of fishermen.

My grandfather fished for a living, and even named his boat “The Matthew and Marc” after my twin brother and I.

My father never fished (he was a customs broker), so the fishing tradition in my immediate family stopped at my grandfather.

I never had any desire to do it for a living. I remember watching the fishing boats out in the Bay of Fundy in the early February mornings, with a thick blanket of vapour on the ocean, and I thought “No thanks!”

But I have cousins and relatives who do it, and I respect people who fish for a living …

It takes a thick skin to handle that cold, and a stomach of steel to ride the ebbs and flows of the rocky ocean without turning green in the face and losing your lunch.

Although I’ve never fished a day in my life (unless you count casting a rod into the stream or that time I went ice fishing – FYI I caught a rainbow trout that day), I think there are a lot of similarities between fishermen and coaches.

Coaches need to be patient to see results (or their “catch”).

Coaches require a thick skin to handle what comes at them every day, like being criticized by strangers on the Internet who live 1000 miles away.

Coaches also need a strong stomach to handle the ups and downs in this business.

For example, there are some weeks when we’ve been getting 200+ members in The Coaching Jungle FB group, then I look and for the last 7 days we’ve gotten “just” 62 new members.

I’ve learned to not sweat it, since next week we’ll probably be back up to 150 new members for the week (or something like that).

Other examples of rocky waters:

I’ve had times when I’ve lost a potential client, only to have that client replaced by someone who’s an even better fit for me just hours later.

Or people verbally commit to starting to work with me, only to back out just before we’re set to begin.

I’ve had days where I’m on Cloud Nine when I wake up, get hit with an unexpected surprise mid-morning that puts me in a funk, get a new client at 3 pm which lifts my spirits, hear about an unwanted delay at suppertime and then complete a project by bed that gets me back on Cloud Nine.  I’m exhausted at midnight, yet fired up from everything that happened that day and I think “I love what I do, but maybe I’m crazy for doing it???”

The ups and downs are just the nature of the beast in this, and any, business.

Those who learn to ride the waves without freaking out are the ones who “make it”!

If you’re someone who’s ready to ride this crazy rollercoaster of having a coaching business, you’d be a great fit for my 10 Clients In 90 Days group program.

I’ll work closely with you and just a handful of other coaches (maximum 6) to help you fill your roster with your ideal clients.

The next one starts soon, and two spots remain: