Episode #37: How to Plant Seeds for the Long Term – An Interview with Robbie on the First 10 Podcast
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. Thanks in particular to Alex McIntyre, Alex Swallow, Joey Owen, Ken Broeren, Neil Mackinnon and Ruth Saville for their ongoing support.
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
BIOGRAPHY FROM CONOR
Conor McCarthy is an entrepreneur, coach, and dad who amplifies ambition, in himself and others
His mission is to have a curiosity-driven and diverse life, filled with lots of learning, by doing meaningful work and creating meaningful relationships. He does this as an entrepreneur, freelancer, and coach. He’s also more than a little bit obsessed with software, entrepreneurship, and education.
Conor is the host of the First 10 Podcast, where he interviews business builders on their First 10 Customers - who they were, how they found them, how to talk to them, and what effect they had on their business, so that listeners can learn what worked, and what didn’t.
He has been a software engineer, English teacher, festival founder, bicycle mechanic, entrepreneur, workshop leader, consultant, advisor, mentor, speaker and blogger.
He coaches Seth Godin’s Akimbo and altMBA Workshops, helping people tell their stories, bootstrap their businesses, learn Real Skills, freelance, write effective copy and engage fully with their marketing. He also coaches one-to-one and does group coaching with awesome humans looking to change their corner of the world.
Pause taker, story nerd, ravenous reader, Cognitive Sibling, and Project Pursuer, Conor loves making new friends to have new conversations with.