How Get Your Next Coaching Job - Guaranteed

Hey SAVI People,  

To get what you’ve never got, you have to do what you’ve never done.

If you want to become a world class coach or trainer, you’ll have to go on a journey full of hardship. I know I spent hours in a small barn gym, for years, training kids in order to hone my craft.

If it was easy everyone would do it. Everything you want is on the other side of hard. If you run towards hard things, if you truly believe Adversity Strengthens, when you adopt this approach you can make your dreams reality.

When people say they want a coaching job, I suggest a different path, one that I’ll call “The Permissionless Coach.” I think this path will give you your best chance to land your dream job.

This piece is inspired by @JackButcher’s permissionless apprentice course. Check it out here. It’s worth the time and embraces the SAVI method.

So, what is a permissionless apprentice? Let’s start with the definition of apprenticeship:

“A person who works for another in order to learn a trade.” Sounds like an assistant coach doesn’t it?

Apprenticeships are more commonly associated with the physical trades: electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, etc.

But, it’s also a GREAT way to get into coaching and grow as a coach. Where do you go to get your degree in coaching? What class or course do you take to guarantee landing a job? (Bonus points if you said SAVI, haha!) Really, that was my inspiration when I first started SAVI, it’s where you can go to learn to coach.

Now, in coaching, who you know and who knows your work is the single greatest determining factor on whether you get a coaching job. Use this to your advantage.

Apprenticing will open the doors that keep frustrating you. Not only is it THE best way to get a job, it’s actually the best way to develop your craft.

For example, which of the following sounds like the fastest way to learn how to build a shed?

A. Go to shed building lectures and remember passages from shed building textbooks.
B. Spend time around people who build sheds and build some sheds along with them.

If you said option A, I wouldn’t want you to build my shed 🙂 

Now, this applies to coaching as well.

Things you don’t need to start coaching:

• Permission!

• Degree from institution

• Six-figure tuition

Now this should be incredibly encouraging! Do it by doing it! There’s not the huge barrier’s to entry like there are in so many other vocations.

Things you do need:

• Persistence

• Time…like a lot of it

• Obsession with the craft

This should actually discourage a lot of you that think you want to coach. There’s a lot of competition, because it’s so much fun to do. As with most things that have a huge reward, it also has huge obstacles. Coaches can’t get tired, can’t have off days, can’t get away with being unprepared and can’t fake it. You have to have the juice, all day, everyday.

The programs that you really want to work with or coaches you want to work for, are busy and get hit up with asks for jobs all the time.

It’s why you need to lead with a surplus of value in order to get their attention at all.

But how do you become an apprentice without a network or a reputation?

Answer: The Internet.

The internet has created a seismic shift in the way talent is discovered at every level. Access is no longer a barrier. Geography, relationships, playing pedigree, coaching resume and experience can’t stop a permissionless SAVI coach.

Let’s be real. Two candidates show up for a job interview.

One just graduated from a good school and has a self-proclaimed “good work ethic.” (Despite never having had a job.) I’ve had to fire so many self proclaimed hard workers in the last few years. I don’t believe anyone anymore, my default is, “show me what hard work looks like,” you have two weeks.

The other put together a pitch to explain a new way to frame your value proposition to your customers, and has already done the work and sold three new clients that are ready to start Monday. (I’ve met two of these people in the last five years, I’ve partnered and built companies with both of them, one you know is my partner in SAVI @CoachCascio)

I’ll ask you, which one of the two above is getting the job? Which one are you? Do you want to be paid first or do you want to add value first?

This applies to coaching. You can do the same exact thing. If you think someone could be doing a better job of something, don’t tell them, SHOW them.

How to become a Permissionless SAVI Coach and land your dream coaching job.

• Do the work

• Study a team’s roster, team analytics, and their record.

• Observe the staff, the players, the culture

• Watch game film (practice if available)

• Create an Improvement Plan

• Include strengths they should focus on, weaknesses they need to improve, and strategies they need

• Create a practice plan that shapes the learning environment to constrain the attributes you want to grow

• Bonus: Grade each player’s performance (for one game). Then give back personalized and actionable feedback.

• Share: Whether Online or in-person. (More down below).

Make this plan your masterclass in coaching.

The most common mistake here is to ask for permission to do the thing before you do it. In that scenario, you're making someone work for you, not the other way around.

Here’s the magic. Whether you even get to pitch it to the Coach, whether it gets used at all.

It adds value to you first. I guarantee you got better at your craft in the process. It becomes an asset you can leverage. It gives you practice, skills, and experience.

Guess how I built SAVI? I did this for one team, then another, then more and finally I had a whole system of resources for any coach who wants to know exactly how to improve their program.

Very few people will give you permission to do something when they have no idea who you are or what you're capable of.

So just do it, and show them.

I’ll be really open with you all for a minute. I did this, I built out exactly how I thought an online coach membership could and should look. I pitched it to the decision makers I worked for at the time.

Guess what? They said no. We don’t see it, we want to do it another way.

And you know what…I’m really thankful, because the exercise laid the framework for this, what we have here with over 25,000 coaches reading this weekly, 3,000 coaches running our systems and in our communities and more than that, we’re revolutionizing the way the game is taught and played.

So what can you learn from this? You can do it too! You don’t need permission, go build it, then show it. And the process will be the reward.

So, let’s say you do it, here’s a few ways to share your plan.

• You have an interview – Print out a few copies to hand out at your interview.

• You don’t have an interview – Email your plan to the coaches you want to work for.

• You don’t get any response…share your plan, in public, online, free for everyone.

If you’re starting out in your coaching career, the apprenticeship model may be the way to go.

If you have solid coaching experience and want to land that next dream job, I’d approach dream job in this way to the hiring committee.

If you go the email route, here’s a sample email you can use, leveraging the SAVI Method.

Summarize your plan in the email and attach it, too.

Trainers want to do the same thing? You should! But, instead of improving teams, improve players.

Let’s say you spend 30 hours creating a plan for improvement for your favorite college basketball team or the player you want to train. You email it to them and all you get is… crickets. So, you publish your work on Twitter anyways (maybe this even lands you a job with someone else).

Remember, even if they don't see it, here's what happens:

• You force yourself to think

• You force yourself to solve problems

• You force yourself to publish

• You force yourself to improve

• You force yourself to build a portfolio of work

Now you have a way to communicate your value in your next job interview

Remember, with whatever you choose to do, lead with a surplus of value. Don’t tell them what you can do, show them. Don’t talk about it, be about it.

Build a body of work that makes working with you an easy decision. Be a Permissionless SAVI Coach.

If you do this and it helps, reach out.

SAVI = Wisdom Applied.

- Stay SAVI, Tyler Coston

P.S. If you liked this, you’ll love our SAVI Coaching Podcast, The Hours. We provide coaching insights every week for your drive or workout. Subscribe here.

P.P.S. If you want to join in on these types of conversations, ask questions, or become a SAVI Coach, you can join our SAVI Basketball Community and get access to all our courses, consulting, and cohorts. Click here to try it FREE for 7 days.

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