So You Want To Be A Personal Life Coach?
Life coaching is a uniquely American occupation – only our sports-obsessed culture could have taken the concept of an authority figure who dictates your every action off of the gridiron and into the home. But the process of pursuing a career as a personal life coach isn’t as easy as buying a whistle and bossing people around. To really find success in this increasingly competitive industry, you need to be able to distinguish yourself from the competition.
Right off the bat, there are no educational requirements for becoming a life coach. There is no master licensing agency or professional union, although the International Coach Federation (ICF) does offer life coach accreditation to some training services. The good aspect of that is that it makes the industry easy for a newcomer to get started in. The bad aspect is that it has opened the field up to people who are unscrupulous. Many life coaches are justifiably regarded as scam artists, collecting large fees while not really making a difference in the lives of their clients. I’m not going to advise you on how to become that sort of life coach – this article assumes that you want to pursue the calling to help people.
The best way to get acquainted with the job is to book yourself sessions with one or several life coaches. Many coaches choose to specialize in a specific aspect of existence – whether it be relationships, finances or nutrition. In your consultations with life coaches, pay close attention to how they phrase advice and gather information. The job is equal parts listening and talking – discovering the blocks to your client’s happiness and giving them the tools to remove those blocks. There are a number of self-help books in the marketplace that can give a prospective life coach a platform to build their program around. These books offer organizing principles that you can use to reinforce your lessons to your clients. Having a physical reference that they can use even when you’re not around can be a very effective teaching tool.
If you are serious about becoming a life coach, it is recommended that you pursue at least one course at ICF-accredited life coaching schools such as the Institute for Life Coach Training. These courses can take over 100 hours of training, but at the end of them you will have a much stronger grasp on the tools that coaching requires. Of course, it is not mandatory to take any kind of educational training before embarking on your new career as a life skills coach, but having an ICF-accredited diploma will make it significantly easier to develop a client base and land well paying life coaching jobs.
Being a life coach offers a lot of flexibility with regards to how you serve your clients. You can work with local clients in person and at the same time, expand your base to an online life coach service or telephone.
Life coaching is a difficult job, with many pitfalls. Most notably, the life coach has to always seem to be in a position of authority – if you don’t have your life together, you won’t be able to help others with theirs. It’s not a job for those who lack confidence or the ability to connect with people. As with any new business, developing a client base will be difficult at first, but your customers will be your best advertisements – really help them, using all the tools at your disposal, and they’ll appreciate it for the rest of their lives.
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Can I Become A Personal Life Coach?
It might surprise you to learn that not everyone has to be a doctor, work on Wall Street or be a lawyer to earn $100,000. A career that is gaining popularity is the professional life coach. According to Forbes, between 10 and 20 percent of these professional life coaches make six figure salaries. A personal life coach for development provides confidence and encouragement for struggling business owners and even writers. Life coaches build relationships with their clients to help them be more successful in business and in life.
Though no formal education is required, it would probably help to have a successful background in the area you will be coaching, such as selling, business management or the arts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t even list them as a profession, but there is still a lot of growth potential for a trained life coach. There are online resources for training as a life coach, but the most important thing a coach brings to the table is their own experience, and an ability to share that experience with others to help them succeed.
One life coach summarized his business like this, “After creating and selling my own business, I wondered what to do with my life. I decided to turn my attention to sharing my knowledge with others so they could more easily achieve the success I attained through years of hard work. As a strategic coach, I want to help others to avoid all the pitfalls I encountered and help them accelerate their success, all the while keeping an eye on the balance in their lives.” Life coaches mentor others so they can be more successful, faster.
If you are thinking about becoming a life coach, think about these things:
- Do you like helping others? How well do you communicate your ideas? Communication and teaching are important aspects of coaching.
- What is your experience? Is it business, or the arts? Is it selling or writing? Here is where you will most likely be successful. – What are you interested in? Don’t do what you don’t love. How can you help others if you’re really not interested in what you will eventually teach them?
- Talk to a life coach and ask them what they do. How did they get started? What is their normal day like?
- Look into available seminars and education to learn more about what a life coach does, or to get the training to help you become a better coach. There are life coach accreditation courses you can take to help you reach your goals, but there really isn’t any life coaching schools. If you look around, you may find some online life coach courses you can take.
Whatever you decide, do your homework. A career as a life coach can only be entered if you love what you do and are dedicated to helping others. Good luck!
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Using A Personal Life Coach
The decision to use a personal life coach can be a tough one. To hire a life coach is to admit that your life has not been going according to plan. As jagged a pill as that can be to swallow, facing reality can be a huge boon in this case. A life coach offers lots of insight for a reasonable price, and utilizing this insight can prove to be extremely helpful in achieving your goals.
Life coaches are paid to come into your life and help you improve it in whatever ways you’d like. They specialize in helping to establish goals and provide a means to reach them for clients. Some life coaching styles can vary widely, so it’s best to have a face-to-face meeting with any potential life coach before money changes hands. Some life coaches specialize in harsh methods to help bring out the best in their clientele, while others are more gentle. The most important thing is that the style of your life coach should match well with your personality. If you don’t respond well to criticism, a gruff life coach would not be a good fit.
Prices vary widely, but don’t expect to spend less than $275 per month for regular coaching sessions and email communications. It’s important that you select a life coach who has credentials to match their prices – a PHD can and should charge more for the services you seek. If at all possible ask friends and family for a referral, although this may be embarrassing for some potential clients. Be careful when selecting a life coach, as there is not really any professional certification or governing body. Anyone can claim to be a life skills coach.
Life coaches can help people through many situations, from interpersonal conflicts and failings to professional and achievement assessments. They specialize in facilitating change in people, so if you are seeking major life changes they are a great option. There are many sub-types of life coach, from relationship coaching to spiritual coaching, so in many cases it may be more beneficial to seek out a coach for the specific area you want to improve.
Life coaching is a relatively new phenomenon, but many people have already found it helpful. If you need to improve your situation and get focused on your goals, a life coach is a great option. A good life coach will energize you and push you toward your goals, whatever they may be.
Filed Under Life Coach Accreditation, Life Skills Coach, Online Life Coach, Online Life Coaching, Personal Life Coach, Relationship Coaching, Spiritual Coaching | Leave a Comment
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