Let me start out by apologizing for what must surely seem like a commercial for another CAM product/service. It is true that BreakThrough 2018 is an event offered by CAM that is neither inexpensive nor light on the commitment required. And while you’ve no doubt seen some of the promotional emails we’ve distributed over the last few weeks, this post is intended to be much more. I hope to share some of WHY I believe this event could be just what you need to move from thinking/talking/studying/dreaming about a coaching practice or ministry to actually making it happen.

Let me first say that BreakThrough isn’t for everyone. We are planning an event for no more than 20 coaches who are ready to learn and implement the strategies needed for launching a successful coaching practice/ministry. I realize that does not resonate with everyone who might be reading this post, and for that I apologize as well. If you are already where you want/need to be in your coaching journey, then the commitment of time, energy, and money required with BreakThrough is likely not going to make sense for you.

BUT…if you are one of those coaches we’ve heard from and about over the last several months who are saying “I’m in with this coaching thing…believe it…I want to use it…I want to make it work in my setting…but I’m not sure how to get started”…then BreakThrough is most definitely for you.

What, exactly, is BreakThrough? Great question! This event was born out of a CAM Leadership Retreat in early 2016. As Chad Hall, Brian Miller, and I were dreaming about ways to engage our community of coaches and those who connect with Coach Approach Ministries, we kept asking what our folks needed to push through. Quite a few of our product/service offerings have come out of our listening to what our community was saying about their own coaching journeys. When we’ve heard about something that was missing, we have tried to create a solution to fill that void through a new product or service. Our first BreakThrough came about as a response to a common theme we were hearing from our folks: “I love coaching, I think I’m wired to coach, I want to make it a significant part of my work/ministry, but I just don’t know how to get started”.

Each of us had been through that same thought process and we talked about the keys to our own successful journeys to a coaching practice/ministry. We came to realize that, while we each took different paths to our current careers as Christian Coaches, there were certainly some common elements that were true for all of us and we began to dream about how we could share some of those keys and processes with our community. And our first BreakThrough event was planned as a result of those brain-storming sessions.

In a nutshell, the BreakThrough event is an intense 3-day workshop designed to:

• Teach about the keys to launching a successful coaching practice/ministry
• Give in-depth, personal attention to each participant as they determine their coaching niche, target market, offerings/processes, and action plan for getting started
• Provide feedback, brainstorming, and coaching specifically around developing a coaching practice or ministry
• Assist in the development of a plan of action for getting started

We realized that the key to giving real value to each participant was in the personalized attention given to everyone – and that is the reason we limited the number of participants.

That first BreakThrough event in June of 2016 met and surpassed all of our expectations! The bonds that were formed…between CAM Leadership and each participant – and between the participants themselves…was worth the entire effort. And seeing how each of those folks were using coaching in their unique ways reinforced for us the broad application for coaching across so many areas of life, work, and ministry. (Fast forward 18 months and we are still connecting on a regular basis with most of those participants as they have launched their coaching businesses/ministries – in fact, a few of them are planning to attend our next BreakThrough to fine tune their action plans and figure out next steps!)

At our next BreakThrough event, planned for June of 2018, we will join with up to 20 coaches to walk with them as they:

• Learn the keys to developing a successful coaching practice/ministry
• Determine with specificity their coaching niche
• Identify their target audience
• Create coaching solutions for meeting the common needs of their target audience
• Develop marketing strategies for reaching their target audience with the message of hope for their issues/challenges
• Design their next steps for turning these insights into action

Each participant will experience:

• Learning new coaching concepts tied to the ICF PCC Markers
• Mastermind coaching (3 on 1 and 6 on 1) to help flesh out their ideas
• One-on-one peer coaching aimed at developing a plan of action

Oh, and we’ve planned a good bit of fun into the process as well, sharing some leisure time together, building relationships and continuing conversations beyond the workshop time.

And, we’ve packaged it all together and made all the arrangements! Participants will only need to get to Nashville – we’ll take it from there, with local transportation, meals, lodging, and entertainment all included.

Gosh, this really is sounding like a commercial, but I hope you can sense some of my personal enthusiasm for this next BreakThrough event, and if you’re one of those folks who is ready to make it happen, I hope you’ll consider joining us next June in Nashville.