Your Competitors Are Often Your Best Complimentary Partners
I first embarked on my coaching studies in 2008. At that time I knew very little about coaching as a discipline, having my own business and the world of entrepreneurship as a whole. During our studies my classmates and I learned a lot of coaching techniques. As our proficiency improved we very quickly wanted to apply our new found skills. Soon we believed we could coach most anybody.
Our instructors soon counseled us, while in theory that might be true, in practice in was not. We would soon learn that certain individuals were more meant to work with us than others. Our connection to them might be because of the type of topics on which they needed to be coached. Or, it might be because their background and demographic best matched to the individuals we were meant to coach. And, while that might have seemed “restrictive” in some ways, it was another way of guiding us to realize that we all would have different “niches” we were meant to serve.
As the years have gone on, I have found that to be so very true. I am defined as a Career Coach, a Job Search Strategy Coach and a Career and Acclimation Coach among other things. I am all about working on the strategies of the job search process with the clients with which I work. In my network of professional colleagues there are dozens of other career coaches. Some may specialize in the interview process of the job search. Others may specialize in resume’ preparation. Still others are experts on Linked In profile development. In some instances the focus may not be on particular aspects of the job process, but certain demographic groups.
Some career coaches may concentrate on recent college graduates. Other coaches may focus on those with Attention Deficit Disorder. Still others may only work with high level executives. We are all in the same field. We may have similar or different training. However, we don’t see each other as competitors, but as complements to each other. We truly have the desire to help support those in job search.
Ours is not the only profession like this. Some accountants specialize on accounting for small businesses, others do only tax preparation for individuals, while others may work at large accounting firms. There are contractors that may focus on exterior work only, others on interior work only, others on only certain rooms in the house. The list goes on and on, profession by profession.
The good professional recognizes what their strengths are and what are not their areas of specialty. If they truly care about what is best for the client, they are often honest with them that they may not be the best person to help them. As such, they actually may refer another professional in the field. While that may appear that they are turning down business, the opposite is often true. They are looking to attract the business and the type of customers that call to them. It makes the work they do more enjoyable. In some cases it makes what they do seem less like work, and more a vocation they do to help those that need their skill set.
How focused are you on the strengths you possess, and the clients, customers or people you are meant to help? Do you seek out those individuals, or do you look to enlist everyone you meet as someone you will serve and then find out later that you are not happy doing the work that you do? By looking at what you do with a fine sense of detail, knowing those you are meant to serve and the tasks that you are meant to do, and pointing those to others that may specialize in what they are looking to have done, will not only help provide you a happier life. It will build connection with others, who will gladly refer you as the person who is the go to person in the types of things you enjoy doing and offering to others as part of your life and profession.
