Conor McCarthy is the host of the First 10 Podcast, where he interviews business builders on their first 10 customers, sparking valuable conversations about how fledgling businesses grow their first roots.

By inviting me onto the podcast, Conor offered me the chance to reflect on how my coaching practice began and how it evolved as a business, from my very first tentative steps through to where I am today.

In the interview I talk about my own false starts and training pathways, and describe the mountain of resistance I had to overcome in order to make connections with the world as a new coach.

Conor is an expert in exploring the subject of how freelancers, bootstrappers and founders start to grow their businesses, and he helped me to retrace my steps while coaxing out key insights from my journey into coaching.

In this episode, we talk about:

How to find your first clients by borrowing successful pitches from others

Earning trust with a wider audience

Experimenting with coaching formats in a low-risk way

Feeling resistance and using it as a signpost for your next steps

How to use honesty to plant seeds for the long term

We also talk about pricing and what it means to get comfortable talking about money.

For more information about Conor, visit https://www.conormccarthy.me/ and to hear other episodes of the First 10 Podcast visit https://www.conormccarthy.me/podcast

For information about my wider work and writing, visit www.robbieswale.com, and to buy my book, click here.

Join the WBECS Free Pre-Summit: https://share.coaching.com/6d3qN2

Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg

To support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community

Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):

- The Interview Valet Top 20 Great Podcasts for Coaches (including this show!): https://interviewvalet.com/20-great-podcasts-for-coaches/

- Akimbo https://www.akimbo.com/

- Phil Bolton, co-founder of The Coaching School https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-2-phil-bolton-from-forensic-accountant-to-the-go-to-career-coach-in-london-and-on-to-work-with-ceos-mds-and-founders

- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/

- Coaches Rising https://www.coachesrising.com/

- Carolyn Freyer-Jones https://carolynfreyerjones.com/

- The initial Facebook post I shared about coaching. https://thecoachsjourney.com/s/Initial-Facebook-Post-About-Coaching-Robbie-Swale.jpg