I’ve gotten in the habit of writing what I’ve learned each week along my own journey as a solo entrepreneur. Sometimes I get a “big picture” view of things that helps me move forward. Sometimes I learn one small thing and another little piece falls into place. Sometimes I re-learn something I already figured out but then forgot. Okay, maybe it’s more than sometimes.

As I sit here thinking about what I learned this week, I can’t come up with anything about being a solo entrepreneur or about my business in particular. But I can come up with important things I haven’t learned!

On Wednesday night I had the great pleasure of facilitating a resource group conference call for students in training through MentorCoach. We struggled with many questions about the line between coaching and consulting or training. In its pure form, coaching helps a client find answers and does not present the coach as an expert on any subject. Providing information or suggestions crosses into consultation or training.

I know I enjoy brainstorming and am able to share specific information when I work with clients, and I don’t want to limit my way of helping to a small box. I want to use coaching skills but not be primarily a coach. What I didn’t learn is what to call that role and the kind of service I want to provide.

I want to find information on personal growth, especially around the idea of living authentically in a way that honors a person’s gifts and passions and values. I want to find exercises and techniques for helping people reconnect to creativity and go through self-discovery. What I didn’t learn is what format to use for sharing information in a way that works best with my own gifts, passions, and values.

I want to encourage creative career choices and help people find the way to work in unique ways that they love. I want to encourage people who can’t find a way to make a living doing what they love to make sure they find work that allows them to do what they love and keeps it at the center of their lives. What I didn’t learn is how to bring something fresh and new to the field, or how to present myself in order to do that.

I want to write on different topics. Most are related to personal discovery and personal growth and stretching oneself to take on new challenges. But I want to write on other topics, too. I want to travel sometimes to see a place and meet interesting people and tell their story. What I didn’t learn is how to do that in a way that leads to income.

That’s the biggest thing I didn’t learn this week. I didn’t learn all the steps to fill in between a free e-mail newsletter and a free blog-zine on one end and paid services on the other. That’s due in large part to the fact that I didn’t learn what it is I really want to be doing to earn money! I want to write, and I want to work directly with people, individually and in groups. But I didn’t learn what that’s going to look like.

So I end this week with lots of questions and not many answers. Which, oddly enough, is the beginning of an answer. I like the fact that coaching moves people forward and helps them accomplish goals. But I also want to work with people who have no easy answers, and need to marinate in their questions for a while, because the discovery is slow and may run very deep.

I wonder what that’s going to look like!

May You Know the Joy of Sharing Your Gifts,

Steve Coxsey