Chocolate cake or cherry pie? A walk in nature or a quiet night by the fire? Build a coaching business or spend time with the ones you love?

Either you do this or you do that. After all, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Or can you?

What if building a coaching business and spending time with your family wasn’t an either/or choice but a both/and possibility?

For coaches, being a solopreneur doesn’t have to mean you do everything alone. With a bit of planning and creativity, you can involve your family and friends in some of your key projects. This will increase their buy-in while giving you the added encouragement and support you need to move closer to your dream.

But before we think about ways to include them, let’s begin by acknowledging that when push comes to shove, family needs to come first.

Either/Or
Truthfully, there are many either/or decisions in every coach’s life. You can’t strap on the diaper bag and bring your two-year-old to the Chamber of Commerce meeting or cuddle with your spouse while coaching a client on the phone.

Life is full of choices. And without intentionality, it’s all too easy to default to the wrong one.

For example, many coaches in their initial rush of enthusiasm to grow a coaching practice pour all their time and energy into getting new clients, leaving their family to gnaw on any crumbs of time leftover at the end of a busy day. While that may work for a season, ultimately, it’s building your business on sinking sand.

The wise coach puts family first by setting aside consistent times just for them. A time when they know that no matter what, you’ll clock out, disconnect from the Internet, and turn off the smartphone to interact with them.

After all, what good is a thriving business in the midst of a failing life?

Both/And
But the good news is that with the wide variety of things that can be done to build a coaching business, coaches don’t always have to choose between working on their businesses OR spending time with their kids. Some parts of business building can be a fun family project everyone will enjoy.

Keeping in mind the ages and interests of family members, invite them to:

1. Help do niche research on the Internet
2. Teach you to use technology
3. Design graphics or memes for your website, blog, or social media posts
4. Act as your focus group
5. Pray with you and for you and your business
6. Choose rewards the whole family can enjoy when you reach certain milestones
7. Practice coaching skills, such as asking open-ended questions, as a family
8. Make a family dream board of things you’ll all enjoy when the business is built
9. Help set-up a home office
10. Hold you accountable for deadlines with designated projects
11. Listen as you practice any speeches or talks
12. Record an intro for your podcast
13. Color a picture for a blog post
14. Recite your tagline to other people
15. Craft a pro and con list when you are making a decision
16. Earn a small ‘bonus’ each time you get a new client
17. Vote on the company name, logo, blog titles, and design elements

Being a full-time coach isn’t just a job, it’s a whole new way of life. For that life to be as rich and rewarding as possible, think outside the box, and co-create it with those you love.