Coaching Life Of A Life Coach

Many coaches fail because you have to be a person who can structure their own time while working from home. The number of people utilizing the web and becoming web based businesses will continue to increase the number of coaches who provide marketing, client attraction and who start business types of services. There are now a couple of professional organizations, such as the International Coaching Federation, which as a professional membership organization, is working diligently to establish coaching standards, life coach school standards and looking at types of regulations that could benefit the industry and consumers. The science of selling is intense and is geared at: getting visitors to give e-mail address for a 'free' gift so they have you in the mailing data base; use words and colors to attract you and make you 'trust' them, offer free material to read and low priced items and then you'll receive e-mails about tele-seminars, videos, guest speakers, and high cost products/memberships/mentorships and mastermind groups. Why wouldn't it mean something about what education and work/life experiences a life coach has? In fact, there are no required educational standards that a life coach school must follow/provide and there is no regulation of the life coach industry. I’ve asked many other coaches, and some of them are very well known and successful, and been told that education and experience are not important! Life Coaching can improve the quality of your life and even your physical and mental health and thus, it is hoped, it may be covered by health insurance as pro-active services someday. Life coaching has evolved considerably and will continue to do so and in 6 years, we'll write another article updating you on how things have, yet again, changed. I envision there will be expanded Coaching Schools that provide coaching education that gives core basics for all types of coaching and then gives additional education in specific areas of specialty types of coaching. At home, there is no structure except what a person creates and it is all too easy to not be structured. Many people want to help others but many think they can earn a tremendous amount of money while being able to work at home in their PJs, part-time. The world has gotten smaller and it is much easier to find people to talk to on the web, yet we are more isolated in our 'real' lives than ever before. One of the newer life coaching waves coming is 'Wellness Coaching' which is similar to health coaching. Anyone can call themselves a Life Coach and open a practice - buyer beware becomes a very serious phrase to remember. Some coaches actually earn $18,000 hour. While the economy and the increasing stress of everyday life is severely hurting the quality of people's lives, life coaching will continue to grow in the number of people it serves as well as the number of life coaches entering the field.



A life coach cannot treat, diagnose, cure, prescribe or provide counseling. Why people should try Life Coaching: Life Coaching is an awesome way for people to stay motivated, keep their focus, gain self-insights and strive to achieve their goals. So, buyer beware! In the mean time, life coaching is affordable and easy to find. Marketing and using psychology to sell whether on the web or in 'real' life, is something every business uses. I don't know about you, but I'm not really interested in sharing my dreams and goals with someone unless they are qualified and that means having work, life and educational experience in their 'niche' or coaching areas. There are now between 10,000 and 20,000 life coaches that are providing services to customers. NOT in my book. Today, there are many life coach training schools but there are huge disparities between the qualities of education students receive from school to school. Life Coaching deals with the here and now and goes forward from there, it is an action based co-active coaching style that is not like therapy which deals with past life events and more psychological issues. As the saying goes, "Teach them how to fish rather than giving them fish and they will never go hungry". Also be cautious if you get the impression that the life coach may end up 'telling you what to do' or pressuring you into goals or avenues that you do not want and they seem more the agenda of the coach than yours. Costs for life coaching services can typically run $300-$600 a month and some will go to $300 or more an hour. Buyer Beware: Throughout my research, I was totally amazed at how few life coaches will post their prices but also, and perhaps even more importantly, they do not post their educational or work experience! In fact, every life coach's goal should be to put themselves out of business. Niche Is In: Niche in life coaching is the current theme - this means that a life coach 'specializes' in one or a few areas only. As a Holistic Practitioner, Certified Life Coach and Licensed Social Worker, I fear for people receiving life coaching services on health related subjects from life coaches with so little background in health and thus the potential for harm of the customer may occur.3 different coaches - include in the interview all your questions on experience, prices, examples of accomplishments related to your goal, how long do they think it would take to achieve your goal, explain how you prefer to work with a coach and ask what their style of coaching is; ask for two references that had goals similar to yours; and most importantly, make sure the life coach you choose is one that you 'connect' with or that 'feels right' to you. I found it amazing, how many coaches actually came out of the computer field from computer programming, IT support, web design and such. That’s unknown at this time. Many coaches are genuine but how do you tell the difference without making many painful, expensive and time consuming mistakes. Many life coaches practicing health or wellness coaching have not checked their state's laws on what they can and cannot coach on in this 'niche’. So, I guess from that, if someone worked at the local animal shelter and didn't graduate from high school, they are just as well qualified to provide life coaching services as everyone else. Most life coaches are earning much less than $20,000 a year because they don't have enough clients. Of concern to me is that many, who are entering this 'niche', receive only 20 hrs of training. It is not about the life coach. The benefits of life coaching are becoming better known and there are many gifted life coaches available - but you will have to do some weeding first. What to look for in a Coach: Tips for you, as a customer in choosing a life coach include: know ahead of time what you want to achieve with a life coach and be able to answer how a coach can best work with you and you with them. Also read the fine print, many web businesses do not have guarantees or refunds available. I recently tried to get a referral network started at the life coach school I attended, so that I and others would know where to refer a customer if I felt their needs could be better met by another. Look for coaches who belong to national organizations, who post their credentials (experience and education), and did they graduate from a life coaching or coaching program or school? There are many life coaches though who still would be considered general life coaches and offer a much broader range of coaching services. The pressure for more specific specialization, 'niching', will likely increase as well. If coaching were done well, then eventually, fewer people would need it. Will social media change the face of coaching? Only two other coaches felt secure enough to put their strengths out there - no one elsewhere is Life Coaching going in the future? It is rather like the medical profession, you have generalists, generalists with a smaller focus, specialists with a broad focus and specialists with very specific focus topics. If the life coaches you check-out don't publish their costs, ask. We check out loads of information before we buy a car, before we choose a doctor, and even before we purchase a mattress. Marketing has become a huge part of daily life for life coaches, much more than ever before and many have taken marketing to an incredible level of hard selling. Other possible questions can be asking what the life coach feels are their strengths and weaknesses. This is my concern and opinion which is shared by some and not by others. Today’s world of having a web based business and all it entails has become very complicated and it isn't as cheap in start-up costs either. If you are in search of life coaching for a very specific area of your life or goal, there is likely a life coach that covers it. What is the future of Life Coaching? There is no Consumer Reports or Better Business Bureau for the Internet. These will greatly lead to better qualified service providers. But the bottom line is that it is up to the consumer to pick the 'right' life coach for them and if it doesn't work for you, then stop and switch to a life coach that will 'fit' you better. Those 'coaches' providing marketing or small business start-up coaching have created a huge income based industry but it has also gained tremendous competition over the last few years. When you work in a business, it provides structure that you work within. A life coach should have the educational/work/life experiences and tools necessary to meet the needs of their customers and if not, then say so and refer the customer to a life coach that does. I do hope that something can be done to make sure the competency, skill, education, and experience of life coaches becomes more uniform and is not as much a 'shooting in a barrel' experience for customers to find truly skilled and dedicated coaches. I envision the complexities of marketing, which include free giveaways, membership groups; increased administrative time (which means less time for coaching), hard selling and heavy marketing will continue to increase, as well.