How to Stop Worrying and Stay in Your Scope of Work

Is your business related to one of these areas?

• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Physical health
• Mindset
• Mental health
• Emotional blocks, 
• Finances  
• Something where you are working in/on someone else’s business

Yes?

I had a feeling! You wouldn’t have signed up for my emails if it wasn’t. 

Did you know you work in what’s considered a “sensitive area?”

All the areas listed are considered sensitive areas because if your client uses (or misuses) your information, they could end up with a negative result and try to come back to blame you for it.  

So you need to stay within your scope of work. 

Your scope of work makes sure you’re setting clear expectations at the beginning with your clients so they don’t hold you responsible for something outside of your scope.

What does a scope of work look like? 

Let me share with you a bit of my story as a former health coach. In case you don’t know, after law school, I was a sex crimes prosecutor in Atlanta and burnt out, like majorly burnt out to the point that I couldn’t walk. 

You can view the details of my health in this documentary— Yep, there’s a documentary it was such a thing.

What I learned on my path to recovery made me decide to shift careers for a while to being a health coach. Now, I’ve come full circle by drafting legal protections for female entrepreneurs who work in sensitive areas. 

When I was a health coach though, I had to make it very clear that I did not diagnose, treat, cure or heal any illness.   I made that distinction for my audience and clients by stating it in all my contracts and I used disclaimers on every piece of content I created.  

You see, doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals are held to a different standard than health coaches. I wanted to make sure in my legal documents that as a health coach, I was held to the standard of a health coach, not those of a licensed medical professional. 

Clearly stating my scope of work in my contracts and my content made me feel comfortable talking about my expertise and kept me accountable to the standards that my industry set. 

This applies not just to my health coaches reading this. 

Let’s say you’re a life coach, a mindset mentor, or a spiritual teacher. You need to make it clear that you are not giving mental health advice, and you are not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist.  

Also, for my business coaches or other service-based entrepreneurs, you have to make it clear that working with you is not a guarantee of future earnings and you are not an accountant, CPA, or financial planner.  

I’d love to hear from you! 

What’s your current scope of work? 

Do you think it’s clear to your audience and clients? 

Simply hit reply and let me know! 

Did you enjoy this article? If so, explore similar content here: How Can Coaching Help You? and Why Having a Full Practice is Bad for Business