If you’re already a coach, it’s easy to get isolated and become a lone ranger as you build your business. Get out and mingle with coaches in your area and build your network. You may meet someone you didn’t even know you needed to meet or who needed to meet you!

One option is to attend a meeting of the local chapter of one of the coaching associations. The International Coach Federation, for example, has 100 chapters worldwide, the aim of which is to provide networking opportunities.

Find the chapter nearest to you (via the link below) and then see if they’re have a monthly meeting.
Find a Chapter

I did this when I was exploring coaching in 2000. I’m still in touch with a couple of the coaches I met that night.

Have fun and let me know how the meeting was!

P.S. This is just one of several ways to meet coaches outlined in the How to Become a Coach ebook.

1. The client has all the answers.
Coaches never give advice or suggestions, right?! Many coaching purists believe this to be true. They believe they just need to ask the right questions and the client will figure out the answer.

If the client had all the answers, why would they need a coach? While an effective coach will have the skills to elicit many answers from their client, sometimes the client just does not have the answer. If they’ve hired you for your expertise on a topic or with a situation then you probably know the answer or solution they need, or could consider, in that moment.

When I first started coaching I was faced with this situation. I was working with a client who was having a challenge with fitness and weight loss. Having been taught that the client had all the answers, I was hesitant to give her suggestions based on my years as a fitness and strength training consultant. Yet it seemed ridiculous to me to have her try to figure out the answer on her own. I realized in that moment that I could ask her questions until she hopefully arrived at an appropriate solution or I could ask her if I could share what I knew from my previous experience as a fitness consultant. She opted for the latter.

As a coach you may need to wear different hats. You can ask the client if it’s ok for you to put on your consulting or mentor hat when you feel it is needed.

2. All the learning takes place during the coaching call.

As a new coach you may think that the client needs to get a big ‘ah ha’ during the coaching call in order for the session to be a success. Learning often happens in the space between coaching sessions when the mind has had time to process the call.

Think about a time you were faced with a challenge. You may have talked with a friend, colleague or family member about it and they may have offered some solutions. Yet none of the solutions felt right. Then you’re out for a walk or in the shower and voila – the answer flashes right before your eyes. Same concept.

You just need to coach during the session. Don’t worry about getting the person to some place. If that’s your focus, then two things may be happening. One – your ego is in the coaching relationships. Two – you may fear that a client will drop you if they don’t get an ‘ah-ha’ each session. Two things you can work on with your coach.

3. You need to be your client’s friend.

You’ve probably read articles stating that hiring a coach is like paying someone to be your friend. Would you really want a friend or family member to coach you? Think about it. Our friends and family will be affected, for example, if we want to change our high-paying career for one that is more fulfilling but pays less. How can they coach you from a non-attached place? For the most part – they can’t. They have a personal agenda, knowingly or unknowingly.

Does your client want you to be their friend? Some may. What your clients need is for you to be willing to risk not being liked in order to support them. They need you to ask one more question when it gets uncomfortable, something a friend may not do. You may be the only person in their life who will tell them a hard truth or to hold them to a higher standard or vision of themselves. A coaching session may be the only time a client gets heard.

If you are your client’s friend, you may develop a personal agenda for them, which interferes with your coaching.

In summary, it’s beneficial to question your perceptions or beliefs about coaching. If someone tells you that this is the way it’s done, ask for the reasoning behind it. Perhaps they do it that way because another way was never tried.

Related Post: 3 Myths about Becoming a Coach

A myth, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone.”

For instance, you may have heard the story about the women who cut off the ends of the ham before she baked it. Her husband asked her why she did it that way and she replied “that’s the way my mother did it.” When she asked her mother why she cut the ends off the ham, her mother said “my pan was too small so I had to cut off the ends to make it fit.”

The Cost of Believing a Myth…

If you believe a statement or way of doing things is based in fact or truth, when it’s actually a myth, you may follow a less than optimal way of doing something. If you don’t question the statement or way, you may use it as an excuse for why you can’t do something.

For example, if you think you’re too young or too old to be a coach, you may let that stop you from exploring the profession further. If you believe the first myth, listed below, you may be disappointed or think you’re a failure if you don’t build your business quickly, quit your job prematurely, or budget inappropriately.

Three Myths About Becoming a Coach:

1. I just have to hang my ‘coaching’ shingle out and my business will fill up quickly.

This may be true for Oprah, Ellen and other famous people with huge followings or for marketing and sales experts, but not for the average person.  Coaching is a business.  According to Industry Canada¹, 85.3% of micro-enterprises (1-4 employees) created in 2001 survived for three years and 70.4% survived for 5 years.  However, only 55% of businesses started in 2001 with revenues less than $30,000 survived three years.  The U.S. Small Business Administration² states that “two-thirds of new employer firms survive at least two years.”

Coach and author Stephen Fairley interviewed 300 coaches in order to write his book “Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching.” He found that 73% of new coaches made less than $10,000 in their first year, which makes the above statistics more sobering.

Most businesses fail due to lack of money, lack of management experience and lack of planning³. If you’re serious about earning a living with your own coaching business, you need to learn how to operate a successful business – including sales and marketing – or find someone to do that for you. This is especially true for those who have been an employee receiving a steady paycheck in exchange for working a set number of hours from an employer. Self-employment is a vastly different mindset.

2. A coach training school will teach me everything I need to know about building a thriving practice.

The amount and depth of practice building instruction and support you will receive from a coach training school varies. Some schools focus mainly on teaching and supporting you to master the skills of coaching while others focus equally on teaching coaching and business building skills. Even if you choose an ICF accredited coach training program, you need to figure out which ones offer the level of practice building components or modules you need.

If you’re set on taking a coach training program that does not offer sufficient business building instruction or support, figure out an alternative way of learning the business side of things. You may be able to find local programs via the school board or college. Many entrepreneurs, including coaches, offer business building programs. If you choose the latter, find out if the leader built a profitable business outside the “teaching entrepreneurs and coaches how to build a business” niche first.

3. I need to complete a coach training program before I can start coaching.

There are no current regulations requiring you to have coach training or certification in order to coach. However, clients come to you to get results. Learning and mastering coaching skills can help you support your clients more effectively.

Most coach training schools encourage you to start coaching right away so you can practice what you just learned. You coach as you learn. Take a coaching course and use the skills you learn with your clients. Then take the next coaching course and use those skills with your clients.

In Summary…
These are three common myths about coaching. If you have any perceptions about becoming a coach or building a coaching business, question them to find out if they’re true.

Sources:
1. Key Small Business Statistics – January 2009
2. U.S. Small Business Administration – FAQ’s (#7)
3. Five Creative Ways to Start a New Small Business in a Turbulent Economy (PDF)

Given that you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming that you’re interested in coaching and likely fall into one of three groups:
1.  You’re thinking about becoming a coach.
2.  You’re training to become a coach or to add coaching to your current business or job.
3.  You’re already a coach.

Regardless of what group you fall into, what is your intention this year with regards to coaching?

For those of you thinking about becoming a coach: Is this the year you finish your research of the coaching profession so you can decide whether coaching is the right career for you?

If you’re training to become a coach, is this the year you start your coaching business whether as a full-time venture or a part-time venture after work?

For those who are already a coach, what are your intentions for your coaching business in 2009? Will you create a product or two? Will you get crystal clear about who your ideal client is and how you can best serve them?

Once you know your intention, what action could you take this week?  You don’t need to know all the steps you need to take to reach your goal, you just need to figure out the first one and write it down…. in detail.

Peter Gollwitzer found that participants who wrote out in detail exactly how, when and where they would complete a task “were about three times more likely to actually act on their goals.” (The Origins of Willpower)

So… write it down in detail!

Feel free to post your intention about coaching in the comments section below. When we publicly declare an intention or action step it can sometimes put a fire under our butt to get it done.

Why Become a Life Coach?

Before we get into why some people become a life coach, let’s first define what coaching is.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as:

“Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking
and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and
professional potential.”

In other words, a coach supports each client to achieve their goals.

Let’s Ask Some Coaches

I interviewed fifteen life coaches and asked each of them why they became a coach and what they love about being a coach now that they are a coach.

Their answers to the first question, why they became a coach, can be summarized into four reasons:

• They wanted to help people.
• They wanted to make a difference in the world.
• Coaching was a calling.
• Their skills and values were a match for this profession.

Once they became coaches, most shared that they genuinely enjoy seeing their clients succeed and even get an emotional high from helping others reach their goals.

In addition, they love the freedom, flexibility and independence that self-employment (when done right) allows. They’ve been able to create a lifestyle that works for them.

Is Becoming a Life Coach The Only Answer?

The question is, do you need to become a life coach to help people, make a difference in the world, and create the perfect lifestyle for you?

Just think about that for a moment…

Frankly, the answer is no.  If you were to ask people in other helping professions – such as personal trainers, personal shoppers, virtual assistants, doctors, or web designers etc. – you would likely hear the same answers.

What Is The Solution?

It comes down to whether your values, skills, core genius, and passions match those necessary to become a great coach.

If they do, it’s a career that you will likely find fulfilling.  If not, you may find yourself hopping from career to career until you find a match.

You need to take the time to ‘go within’ and find what career coach Barb Richards, of VisionWorkCoaching.com, calls your ‘true north.’  Discover your values, skills, core genius and passions.  Then see if they are a match for the profession of coaching.

You can search haphazardly for the right profession or you can save time, money and frustration and do the inner work first.

Want to learn more about the profession of coaching? Get Chapter 1 from Sue Bond’s “How to Become a Coach” ebook and the transcript from an interview with Barb Richards on career transition.  Type you name and email in the box at the top of the left column.

Copyright 2008 * Sue Bond

You too may be caught up in the excitement of how rewarding a career as a coach could be both professionally and financially.  The only problem is you be may be overlooking the realities of what is involved in starting a coaching business.

There are 5 keys areas in understanding the truth about what it takes to become a coach:

1. Understand what coaching is and how it works.
2. Be sure coaching is the right career for you.
3. Make an informed decision about coach training and certification.
4. Learn how to build and maintain a successful coaching business.
5. Take action.

1.  Understand what coaching is and how it works

When you first heard about professional coaching you probably associated it with sports coaching or therapy. While professional coaching is similar to these professions there are some key differences.

According to the International Coach Federation (ICF), which is the largest non-profit association of professional and business coaches in the world:

“Coaching is an ongoing relationship which focuses on clients taking
action toward the realization of their visions, goals or desires.”

Clients hire coaches to resolve a challenge or to get support to attain a desired result.  Your job as a coach is to support the client to be successful.  Coaches do this by asking questions and listening.

Coaching usually occurs over the phone, although it can also occur in person for a higher fee.   Many coaches offer additional free email access and/or laser telephone coaching of 5-10 minutes in length between sessions on an as-needed basis.

2.  Is coaching the right career for you?

You may be thinking, sounds like an easy way to make $200+ an hour.

Making a career change, training, and starting a new business can be scary.  It takes time, money and effort.

Research the profession thoroughly.  Compare your skills with the competencies needed to be an effective coach.  The more information you have, the more confident you will be about your decision.

3. Make an informed decision about coach training and certification.

To enhance your effectiveness, confidence and credibility with potential clients you’ll need to add specific coaching skills to your toolbox.  Clients invest in your coaching services because they want to get results.  Imagine hiring a personal trainer with no specialized training in weight training!  Injuries can result.

As of June 2007, I found over 150 coaching training organizations.  About a quarter of these organizations offer an accredited coach training programs.  The majority do not.  Plus tuition fees range from range from $3,900 to $10,000+ US.

Before committing the time and money to a training program you want to make sure you pick the best training program for you.

4.  Learn how to build and maintain a successful coaching business.

It’s important to realize that coaching is a business.  Most coaches are self-employed.  It could take 3-18+ months to create a full coaching practice.

Marketing is the key to getting the word out about your coaching business.  If you’re serious about building a coaching business, learn about marketing.

5.  Take Action

Ask yourself:

What do I need to know in order to decide if becoming a coach is the  right career move for me?

Action creates momentum.  Do your research before becoming a coach.  It may seem overwhelming at first, so schedule small blocks of time.  Talk to coaches.  Find out what it’s really like to be a coach.

A career in coaching can be very rewarding personally, professionally and financially.  Do yourself a favour and do the research before jumping.

If you’ve looked at various sites on personal or life coaching, you’ve probably noticed that their definitions of coaching vary.  There isn’t a standard definition.

Before an attempt is made to define coaching, let’s start with a bit of history.

Personal or life coaching has sprung from a handful of related yet distinct fields.  These include sports, psychology, and personal development.  (See this blog post for info on the 175 key influencers of the profession of coaching.)

In addition, there are two philosophies about how to ‘do’ coaching.  The first group believes that the client has the answers so the coach just needs to ask questions and voice observations.  The second group blends the above along with mentoring and consulting techniques such as sharing steps or processes that work to achieve the end result wanted.

So, what’s the answer?  What is coaching?

According to the International Coach Federation (ICF), the definition of coaching is:

“Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.“

Now that we know what coaching is, why do people hire coaches?

Why Do People Hire a Coach?

People hire coaches for a variety of reasons.  Here are a few:

• to become more effective in organization and time management;
• to decrease stress and increase balance in their life;
• for support and guidance through a career transition;
• to find their passion and start living it;
• to make their life even better;
• for support in starting a business;
• and many other reasons.

Basically, they have a result they want to achieve and they know they can get there faster with the support of a coach.

You may be thinking, ‘I could get a friend to help me with that.’  The drawback is a friend may not be as blunt with you as a coach as they don’t want to risk losing their friendship with you.  Plus many professional coaches have invested time and money in coach training programs and are trained to ask powerful questions and to listen.

While talking with a friend may be cheaper than the $200-400+ monthly fee a typical life coach charges, the latter is more likely to support you to achieve the results you’re looking for.

To really understand and get what personal coaching is all about, you need to experience coaching.  How can you become a life coach if you’ve never experienced it?

Life coach helps those struggling with the negatives

Here’s a second article by the same writer.  This time he talks about the coaching session he had with Maurine and with Ana.

Reporter gets a firsthand look at life coaching