The problem that haunted me

I didn’t plan to start another business.

That came out wrong.

I didn’t plan to start another business so soon.

Inner Workout is three years old and still very much a toddler of a business. There’s a long way to go before my vision for Inner Workout is fully realized.

Which begs the question:

So, why are you starting another business?

The truest response is that I felt like I had to. Not from a place of obligation but because I kept bumping up against a problem that felt too good to pass up on. 

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When I was a less mature business owner, I wanted to be an innovator.

Innovation is sexy. It feeds your ego to feel like you’re the pointy end of the spear.

I’m not shading innovation. Innovation is incredibly necessary. It’s how we cure diseases and make the world a more connected place.

But here’s the truth I wish I’d learned sooner:

Innovation for innovation’s sake does not a solid business foundation make

The best businesses solve a problem for a clearly defined set of people. Bonus points if the business can elegantly solve a problem for multiple stakeholders at once.

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Let me tell you more about the problem that kept haunting me.

Last October, I enrolled in a coach training program that’s accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) I’ve gained coaching skills through various trainings, but, as I do more work with larger corporations, it felt important to get a coaching credential.

Coaching doesn’t have the same regulations as therapy. I find that most people I encounter have misconceptions, at best, and skepticism, at worst, when it comes to the industry. The ICF seeks to add standardization and regulation to coaching.

This is where my new company comes in.

The ICF requires you to accrue a set number of coaching experience hours in order to earn your credential. A coach must log at least  100, 500, or 1000 coaching hours, depending on the level of credential they’re seeking. The vast majority of those hours must be paid.

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Let’s add another puzzle piece to the story. I knew I’d be launching my signature coaching program, Begin Within, at the end of this summer. I also knew that I wanted to continue to log hours toward my credential in the meantime. So I offered pay-what-you-can coaching.

There was a w i d e range in what people could afford to pay. Like really wide. Most established coaches charge a minimum $100 per session, and that rate is out of reach for many people who would benefit from coaching.

Meanwhile, many of my coach friends who had just completed 150+ hours of coach training were more than willing to charge far less than the average in order to earn paid coaching hours.

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Shouldn’t there be a platform to connect these two groups of people, especially as we’re headed into a recession?

That’s why I decided to build Gateway Coaching, pronto. I kept hearing the problem from different angles and in different contexts. And when I did customer discovery interviews, the problem persisted.

Gateway Coaching offers more accessible coaching by connecting you to early career coaches. Kinda like how you can get a cheaper haircut when you go to a cosmetology school.

In future editions, I’ll talk more about different aspects of the process of launching this business, like:

• DIYing the branding

• Why customer discovery is an underrated imperative

• Building a more technical product as a non-technical founder

• Choosing a sales and marketing strategy that doesn’t center social media

Questions to help you find a problem to build a business around:

• What’s annoying, in your life and in the lives of your loved ones?

• What’s difficult?

• What would you improve if you had a magic wand?

• Who do you wish you could more easily access?

• What aspect of your life would you pay to simplify?

So there you have it, the first business-focused Process Report. What thoughts and questions did it spark? Let me know in the comments!