When I decided to make Group Coaching Mastery Interactive TV (GCMiTV) a weekday show, little did I know it would be so challenging and absolutely, fun!  I knew my passion for group coaching would serve as a driving force.  I even knew my work in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) would offer real depth, transparency and honesty to the content.

I love the response to the weekday show!!

GCMiTV learners have jumped in with both feet with a few regulars joining me every single day.  (THANKS Valri Hamilton and Tobi Lytle.)   Viewers get to chat or share audio and video feedback.  Episodes are posted and available for a few days only for those who miss the live action.  The experience of connecting and interacting with Facebook viewers has re-energized me in a way that's hard to put into words.  Just know that I'm humbled and excited at the same time.

The focus of our show content for this week was understanding how to market using NLP.   We talked about the "WendyY" definition of NLP and why it's so helpful in client attraction, marketing and group coaching.   In our conversations, we discussed the four pillars of NLP and how to use them to attract more of your ideal clients to your programs and services.

My intention for each episode is to create an interactive experience for learners to build thriving group coaching programs.  Learners will drive the content focus for the weekday program via polls and feedback.  I'm open to the journey and I'm delighted to know viewers and  learners are, too!

Tune in to Group Coaching Mastery Interactive TV weekdays at 3 pm Eastern on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/groupmastery

Wendy Y. Bailey - Master Certified Group Coach

Wendy Y. Bailey is a Master Certified Group Coach, Certified Experienced Coach and Certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner. Affectionately called "WendyY" by her business associates, colleagues and friends, she's also the Creator and Founder of Group Coaching Mastery - Master Group Coaching with an NLP Twist. WendyY helps coaches, speakers and trainers learn to create, design, market, fill and deliver bestselling group coaching programs using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (persuasive marketing, language skills and influence strategies.)

If you’re successful as a group coach, chances are you already have the talent, experience and the interests that would make you a good professional speaker. But how can you get started as a professional speaker as a group coach? How can you go from group coaching to professional speaking – with the bigger audiences and bigger paychecks that go with it?

Here are several ideas to keep in mind as you pursue professional speaking to help grow your group coaching business:

• Speak for free (at first). The best way to get started as a professional speaker is to get started speaking – to any audience, even if you’re speaking for free. Every speech you deliver will help build your network, help get your reputation out there, and will give you another YouTube clip to add to your website. As your reputation as a speaker grows and you start to get referrals, you can start to charge for your speaking services.

• Develop a niche. Ask yourself, “What is my area of expertise that I can speak about? What special wisdom can I bring to an audience?” It can be hard to market yourself as a speaker if your subject matter is too general. It’s better to have a specific area of expertise – preferably where there isn’t as much competition. After all, there are already a lot of “motivational speakers” and “leadership experts” in the world; but what if you could offer a speech about “leadership lessons learned from my experience in the U.S. military” or “how to manage and motivate a diverse workforce in the IT industry?” Sometimes it’s better to be more specific – especially when you’re just getting started.

• Put yourself out there. No one is going to come hire you as a professional speaker just because you have a website – you need to get out and introduce yourself. Identify a few events and conferences and audiences that you would love to speak to, and then proactively get in contact with the event organizers and decision makers. Network. Send some e-mails, follow up with phone calls, and offer to drop by for an in-person chat. You might need to start small and start local – if you’re good, the bigger audiences will come with time.

• Be generous and entertaining. Remember to have fun with this! Bring some humor and excitement and energy to your audiences. Be generous with your time and talents – show your audience that you love them and that you care about giving them a memorable speech.

• Use technology to promote your speaking. Write blog posts about the types of speeches you’d like to give – this is a quick way to introduce yourself to prospective audiences. Put a dedicated Speaking page on your website with an introduction and a quick overview of the kinds of speeches you give. Use Slideshare to share your presentations online. Use YouTube to upload videos of your past speeches so people can see you in action. Now more than ever, it’s possible for professional speakers to use fast, cheap (or free) tools and resources to promote themselves and share their ideas.

Have you had some success as a professional speaker to promote your group coaching business or to supplement your income? How did you get started? What are the most important things to remember when getting started as a professional speaker? What are the best/worst/most exciting/most challenging aspects of being a professional speaker?

DeLores Pressley, Professional Speaking Expert

DeLores Pressley is an international keynote speaker, author, life coach and the Founder of the Born Successful Institute and DeLores Pressley Worldwide. DeLores has spoken to more than 107,000 people in over 65 major cities and countries. She has been interviewed on America’s top rated shows including, OPRAH and Entertainment Tonight. She produces Speak for Hire, an educational program teaching entrepreneurs, speakers and coaches how to speak and grow their business. More about DeLores

Some people get stuck thinking about offering a group coaching program because they feel intimidated by the technology options to support the program. Forums? Membership sites? Email lists?  Which is right for your program?

Let's boil it down to ONE thing: keep it easy. Easy for you as the group leader and easy for the participants.

Easy Option #1. Email
I've participated in several group programs in the last year that were email only.  No forum. No logins.  Everything got distributed by email.  These work particularly well for small groups, like a dozen or fewer members. At first, I thought "Yikes, this is going to be a ton of email." And at first it was. But things settled and over time I have come to appreciate the simplicity of this approach. These were not programs that had a lot of reference material so there wasn't a great need to maintain a location to find things. The email was great for timely messages and no one had to remember an extra password. The casual nature of email also promoted a lot of interaction between members of the group.

Easy Option #2. Set up a blog on a password-protected section of your site
I like for my group coaching programs to have their own domain names. That domain name, e.g. program.com, can serve as the sales page for the site and a sub-directory like program.com/private can host a password-protected blogsite to support the group coaching program. It's straightforward to install another instance of WordPress into a sub-directory. The control panel of your hosting account usually offers an option to password-protect that sub-directory and it's contents.  By doing this you have created one user name and password combination for all members of the group to use. Not everyone likes having to remember another password but it's very easy for you as the leader to manage the class resources since you already know how to manage a blog. The password-protected blog posts are a great way to ask members of the group to check-in via comments. Blog posts are also an easy way to start a topic for your group and keep all the information for that topic together in one place. By using Feedburner, you can make it easy for participants to subscribe to the program's blog in their email or an RSS feed reader.

Easy Option #3. Use a membership site plug-in like Wishlist Member
If you want to springboard from a public blogsite to run your program, give everyone their own login and you want the flexibility of a forum, I recommend WishList Member. It also supports various levels of membership. WishList Member is especially attractive because it does not charge a monthly fee. You buy it once and you own it for the lifetime of the site. They also have an unlimited license option so that you can use it on multiple program sites. If you haven't considered treating your group coaching program like a membership site, I truly think it's worth the learning curve. For a large group coaching program where participants come and go, running it like a membership program is a perfect match.

Laurie Foley, Blogging Expert

Laurie Foley has been helping people and organizations thrive online for more than 15 years. Resourceful and intuitive, she's an online business coach and dedicated guide for those who want to create meaningful work and amplify their message. Besides writing as Group Coaching Mastery's Blogging Expert, you can find Laurie at http://lauriefoley.com and on Twitter as @lauriefoley.