I just wrote a really long reply then accidentally deleted it.
To sum up what I said;
Well done for being so confident and motivated in pitching your business! That shows real commitment and confidence. I think a lot of people just won’t know how to take it or won’t have heard of the concept before and therefore will be wary of it. Others confuse coaching with therapy and counselling.

Maybe you should try tapping into the students, teachers and lecturers market – i.e. Student unions/societies etc. There are loads of directionless people there, both students and teachers

Targeting thematic groups, places and shops. i.e. Belle and Herbs? Could Tash market you whilst he’s serving food? Your Belly-dancing class? Buddhist groups? Alcoholics Anonymous?

Self-help, community groups etc. It might be a good idea to research community groups in Newcastle and perhaps start off with an email or a phone call introducung your services and what you can do. People who access these services are more likey to be aware and motivated about what you’re doing. Off the top of my head, somewhere like Disability North, it might be attractive to them because your services are about helping people achieve what they want to in life regardless of disability.

Also, send me your pitch and contact details and your offer and I’ll send it to everyone at work, there are a lot of people considering a career change here at the moment so the time might be ripe to optimise on their indecision. Also, I’ll send it to my mum who lives in the bored housewife and middle-aged, new-age, middle-class hippy capital of England.

Oh, also, when I had my coaching we focused on my music and how to progress it. Why don’t you contact all the musicians you know who are trying to make it “big” and see if they want some help. Tell them it will be just like having a Guru like the Beatles had. Only a Yorkshire one who is witty and has a skype connection.

I’m still thinking, I’ll let you know if anything else comes to mind.

I think you have a fantastic approach to all this, and I again wish you every success.

As for ideas, do you have a paper-trail other than your card? Like a brochure that outlines what you do, how you do it, and what people say about it? It does cost money, but people are more likely to say yes to something if they can read how good it is again and again. The idea would be working on them and one day you’d get a call.

And how about taking a stall at your local Mind, Body & Spirit Fair?

Or advertising in any Life Coaching publications? Or adding your site to any appropriate web-rings to make sure you get targeted traffic to your site?

You’ve probably thought of all this before, but it’s what I can think of.

Keep going and you’ll get there. :)

So they didn’t really understand life coaching – that’s not your fault! Besides, do you really think they do so well at selling you on (so to speak), if they don’t understand what it is that you’re even doing!?

Incidently, why is it ‘accomplices’, but not one ‘accomplex’? Hmm. Yes, back to the programming!! O.o

May I suggest beauticians, beauty salons, spa/wellness centers and the like? I trust my beautician with a lot of my secrets and follow her advice quite often. :))

even though they didn’t take you up on the offer, you are spreading the word about what coaching is.. and they will talk about you! Try leaving leaflets in so that their customers can read while they’re waiting for their “Hair do’s!”

I think talking to their manager is a good idea, they’ll be more likely to understand what coaching is.

It is a great idea getting clients with a circle of influence… but hairdressers aren’t necessarily the ones interested in doing coaching…. how about dentists, or doctors??? Or bank managers??

Also free, seems good, but sometimes it can make the product appear like it has no value… and if you were that good, why would you offer your services for free? I mentioned on my other comment I’m doing a 1st session free, that way if they like it, get value from it they can invest in themselves, if not they still will talk about you and you will get word of mouth from this..

I got a client today from this, she’s 62 and on a pension so I offered a reduced rate for her, because I wanted to help her achieve her dreams, and if she was paying much more it would actually prohibit her reaching them! I felt really positive about this, because I secured what is now my 3rd Fee paying client!!! :-)

It’s normal to feel dejected, but don’t let this defeat you… keep on keep on, you are doing great!

trying gyms, yoga and pilates studios? They have one on one relationships with clients who are trying to improve their lives and have money to spend on it. Their personal trainers and instructors probably want to improve their business, achieve certifications etc and may be a bit more goal oriented than hairdressers (sorry, awful generalisation, I know).

So long as you pitch it so your service complements their training services, not takes over from it, this could work. They help their clients get results in physical fitness goals, you will help them achieve career and personal goals.

I realized that what you need is something I just learned about recently.

My new boss is crazy about networking. And – it seems to work for her, she gets tons of business through her networks.

One of the organizations she belongs to is a women’s group, and the other is an international networking group. That one’s purpose is business networking, the members (printers, realtors, mechanics, lawyers, computer geeks, etc) give their own clients referrals to other members for other services – which sounds exactly like what you’re looking for. I’m sure there’s one where you live. It’s called BNI .

I know my boss was saying that they have a personal coach in their chapter here in Vancouver (they even have a tour guide who specializes in snowshoeing as a member!), so maybe you can find a group that needs one where you live. One note of caution, I think it’s a little pricey for membership, so you’d have to be serious about it – but worth looking into. _{And probably more fun than going from shop to shop doing cold calls and getting confused and wary looks from people.}

Best of luck!

My guess is that people are more apt to react positively to things that they think they have discovered themselves rather than things they think are being “sold” to them, even though you’re offering a free service here. I’ll think about it some more tomorrow (or later today, depending on how you look at it) after I’ve slept, but I suspect that you can reach these sorts of people with just a slightly different approach. For instance: who’s your hairdresser? Also, I liked Lucyann’s suggestion about students. Most colleges here have a (free) counseling service for students, and if your local colleges have something similar it might be worthwhile to contact them.