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.
© 2010, Personal Life CoachFREE information about Online Life Coaching
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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.
© 2010, Personal Life CoachFREE information about Online Life Coaching
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What Is A Personal Life Coach?
Previously thought to be only for the upper class, life coaching is coming up as a great new career prospect. There is no definite degree or qualification required to become a life coach although experiences in courses of psychology, sociology and life as a whole counts as a better trait for a life coach.
A personal life coach need to have excellent inter-personal skills, should be good listeners’, compassionate and patient. Their self experience plays a major role in the way they handle situation for their clients. They need to have a planned system of approach and timely advancements. Most people suffer from some sort of crisis or the other and many are unable to crawl out of the situation by themselves or need a helping hand. These are the kind of people who can be helped by professional life coaching, spiritual coaching or relationship coaching.
The life skills coach drills in them the motivation and enthusiasm needed to get back up and on with their lives. Clients may vary in kind, some may have experienced traumatic experiences, some may be going through depression while others may just lack self discipline. Whatever the case, a good life coach is always prepared, has a systematic approach and knows how to handle unique people in his/her own unique way.
As more and more people are getting aware of the huge benefits of having a personal life coach, so is the level and demand of coaches increasing. With a boom of such magnitude even most middle class professionals are opting to hire a coach. The salary of a life coach varies. The more experienced and reputed the coach the more the demand and the earnings for the coach. Some coaches charge up to 2000 dollars per session but those are for celebrities and big shots. An average life coach charges about $40 to $100 per session of about 45 mins. In average if a coach has 8 life coach jobs a day, he makes around $320 to$800 per day for a 5 day week it becomes $1600 to $4000.
The comforts of a profession as a life coach are worth mentioning. The sessions can and are maintained between the coach and the client through phones and online life coaching. So the convenience of working when at home baking a cake is a reality with this profession. Clients usually take 3 to 4 months of coaching to get the desired results and improvement in their social scenario. Most coaches offer mini sessions for free as a means of advertisement as well as to experience new individuals. The key here is to understand that each and every individual is unique but share a commonness of a few attributes.
© 2010, Personal Life CoachFREE information about Online Life Coaching