There are few things more rewarding than running the business you’ve always dreamed of, but empowering others to do the same is one of them.
Once you’ve mastered the ins and outs of your career, your next step might be to start a business coaching practice so that you can guide students toward their dreams.
If you know what you’re doing, career coaching is a great way to make a living, be your own boss, and make an impact on people who can benefit from your experience.
But just because you know business doesn’t mean you know business coaching. Coaching can pose all sorts of new challenges you may not have faced before, and when you start something new, there’s no better way to prepare than by doing some research and reading some books.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of literature on building a coaching business from people who know their stuff.
So to help you on your quest to become a coach, here are our top ten books on business coaching.
1. The Business Book of Coaching: The Ultimate Guide to a 7-Figure Coaching Business, Ajit Nawalkha and Neeta Bhushan
Ajit Nawalkha and Neeta Bhushan, founders of Evercoach, set out to write a book on business coaching with advice that would benefit everyone, and with The Business Book of Coaching, they do just that.
Nawalkha and Bhushan believe that with enough time and effort, anyone can make money as a coach as long as they use proven best practices.
In The Business Book of Coaching, they rely not only on their own experiences in the coaching world, but also on proven scientific research to guide their strategies, so if you want the facts about what it means to run a coaching business, this is a great book for you!
Amazon Customer Review: This was an easy read with many great tips for any sales business. Both reasoning and implementation were addressed in detail for every step. This book takes you through a process, starting with mythical mindset and ending with growth mindset to achievable actions. I loved that my journey should stretch me, not stress me which is exactly where I want to be.
2. Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills, Tony Stoltzfu
Tony Stoltzfus’s Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills is all about the art of asking questions, one of the most fundamental skills for aspiring business coaches to master!
In it, Stoltzfus and twelve other coaches offer over a thousand great questions to ask that will help you and your clients get to the heart of their career goals.
It’s an awesome resource for business coaches who want to learn more about building relationships with their clients!
Amazon Customer Review: It is evident that the author has experience in coaching and I love that I have access to such a powerful resource to add to my library…This book presents great methods for listening and asking to enhance your coaching skills and your client’s overall experience. I would highly recommend this as an added resource for anyone interested in coaching or anyone who is currently coaching.
3. Become a Business Coach: Kick Off Your Coaching & Mentoring Business, Salvador Briggman
This brand-new book comes from our own Salvador Briggman. He’s been in the coaching business for nearly a decade, so you can be sure he’ll have some meaningful insight if you want to become a business coach.
Become a Business Coach is a complete primer for anyone who’s ready to start a business coaching business.
With his signature enthusiasm, Salvador covers everything from the very first step, so if you’re just getting started as a business coach, this is the first book you should read.
Salvador also offers some advice that will help you level up from a small-time business coach to a full-fledged success, so even if you’re not a complete novice, the book is worth picking up!
4. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, Michael Bungay Stanier
Michael Bungay Stanier has been a business coach for years, and in The Coaching Habit, he’s on a mission to make coaching easy and enjoyable!
Structured around Stainer’s “seven essential coaching questions,” The Coaching Habit guides aspiring mentors through the process of helping people overcome career challenges and fulfill all their goals.
Stainer has some gold nuggets of wisdom for people who work with people, and he shares all of them in this book!
Amazon Customer Review: Great leadership is not easy, but the principles are simple. The Coaching Habit gives you practical ways to help others discover their inner genius. I would definitely recommend this read to anyone looking to raise their listening, question asking, and leadership skills!
5. The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients, Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin
The Prosperous Coach, is well-known as one of the best books for coaches, and that’s because it’s full of advice and inspiration for anyone who wants to make money as a coach.
Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin investigate a number of tried-and-true methods for starting a business coaching business and carrying it through to success, and perhaps most importantly, they help readers discover their worth and wisdom.
If you want to jumpstart your career in executive coaching, The Prosperous Coach is a must-read!
Amazon Customer Review: This book should absolutely be required reading for anyone considering a career in coaching. It brings a fresh, honest and straightforward voice to the business of coaching for both the client as well as the coach! Will be referring to this book often as I build my practice.
6. The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months, Brian P. Moran
If you want to become a business mentor, you need to master time management, and Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington’s The 12 Week Year is great for anyone who wants to boost productivity in their business life.
This book challenges the way we think about time and asks us to reimagine a year as 12 weeks instead of 12 months.
Moran and Lennington show how working with this model can help us become more productive workers, and there’s a lot you and your clients can learn from their ideas.Amazon Customer Review: This book is great! I am so excited to break down the steps of this book and apply them to my life and see how far it takes my life…
7. Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry, Marcia Reynolds
In Coach the Person, Not the Problem, Marcia Reynolds draws on years of experience in the coaching industry to get to the heart of what it means to be a great coach.
She describes her “five essential practices of reflective inquiry” and creates a framework for approaching coaching sessions.
Marcia Reynolds puts a lot of emphasis on how coaches can use their skills to make a difference in the world, and she offers a fresh perspective on the art of coaching. That’s why this is such an important book to add to your library!
Amazon Customer Review: I recommend this book to anyone starting a coaching journey. I read it 4 times already and keep getting back … it’s a reminder about why we do what we do and how we can really create an impact, one person at a time.
8. Evidence Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients, Dianne R. Stober and Anthony M. Grant
In Evidence Based Coaching Handbook, Dianne R. Stober and Anthony M. Grant look to science and psychology to tackle the challenges of executive coaching.
They delve deeply into what the research says and come up with some truly useful insights.
If you’re interested in finding out how behavioral science can help you become a business coach, this book is for you.
Amazon Customer Review: …The handbook is comprehensive in coverage and well-organized. I am glad to see a book that has a strong theoretical base that also offers some easy to understand models and frameworks of coaching. While I enjoyed the entire book, I particularly liked the authors’ chapter on a contextual approach to coaching as well as the chapter on positive psychology. I would highly recommend this book.
9. HBR Guide to Coaching Employees, Harvard Business Review
From the Harvard Business Review’s Guide Series, HBR Guide to Coaching Employees is all about putting people on the right track to success.
Using real-world examples from a variety of authors, the book shows readers how to help employees and coaching clients work with the skills they have to meet their goals.
Managers and business coaches alike can learn a lot from this book!
Amazon Customer Review: Must read for every manager, especially those who are also people managers. Very practical and thoughtful presentation of various challenges faced by managers every day with clear tips on how those could be approached using coaching.
10. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Business, Eric Ries
In this book, Eric Ries describes his Lean Startup approach to entrepreneurship and offers some insight every aspiring business coach needs to hear.
He analyzes some of the latest trends in the business world and unpacks what they mean for emerging startups.
Ries’s framework aims to change the way we think about startup management, and he has some useful advice for both you and your coaching clients!
Amazon Customer Review: An excellent marketing strategy book. I strongly suggest that every organization should use it as part of the leadership training and decision making.
All great coaches have a library of books to draw ideas from because if you want to teach, you should always be learning!
We recommend making your way through as many of the books on this list as you can.
Each one has a lot of wisdom to impart to aspiring business coaches who want to help as many people as possible, and they cover everything from the broad strokes of formulating your business model to the nitty-gritty of sitting down with clients.
It might seem intimidating now, but once you’ve finished a few of these books, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the next great business coach!
Now go get started!