From time to time I receive requests for tips from people who are thinking of becoming a life coach.
Here are my top 12 tips:
- Hire a life coach and experience coaching as a client. This will help you:
- Gain experience of what it is like to be coached and an appreciation of the power of the coaching process.
- Get clarity on whether this profession is for you and if so, how you can move forward and take the necessary steps towards becoming a coach.
- Identify what it is that you want to bring to the world as a coach. Coaching is merely a tool. It is important to clarify your bigger vision is, so you may have assurance that life coaching fits precisely into that vision, if in fact it does.
- Having experienced coaching as a client will make it much easier and more natural for you to learn the coaching tools and apply them as a coach. It will give you more appreciation for what your potential future clients might experience.
- Research coaching online. A great place to start your research is the International Coach Federation (ICF).
- As you are doing your research, keep a log of all of the important questions that arise.
- If you are thinking of creating your own business as a coach, research what is involved with owning and operating a small business. There are lots of resources online and most cities have small business centres that provide information and support.
- Many of the answers to your questions may be found online. Use the power of the Internet to efficiently find the information you seek.
- Identify 10-15 coaches who inspire you. Read their websites and learn about what they do.
- Create 5-10 questions that you can ask these coaches (refer to your log of questions from your online research) and schedule informational interviews with them, or send your questions via e-mail. The more specific the questions, the easier it is for the coaches to quickly answer them for you.
- Find out if there is a local ICF chapter in your city and if so, find out when and where the monthly meeting takes place and attend as a guest.
- Research the ICF accredited schools of coaching. They can all be found on the ICF website. Review the websites of coaching schools and call them to ask your specific questions.
- Enroll in the coaching program that best aligns with your style of learning and the kind of coaching you prefer.
- Once in the coaching program, take the extra step and initiate a coaching circle, where you get together with your classmates on the phone and coach each other. You will get more experience and feedback from this process and it will deepen your learning.
- During this entire process, stay in touch with the level of excitement, passion and energy you feel. If your energy increases, this is a good indication that you are on your path; if your energy drains, coaching might not be for you.
All the best on your journey!
Hi Julia,
I am currently trying to gather information about life coaching, as part of my career planning homework. I was wondering if you can answer a few questions for me.
1. Does being a life coach require formal education or certification? If so, where do you recommend?
2. How long does it take to build up a clientele? I was told by one of the career counsellors it may take a long time and I would need to work another full time job to support my income.
3. Do most life coaches coach via phone, or in person? It seems like many prefer phone coaching?
Thank you very much in advance. Your answers are very important to me as I try to figure out my career plan during this info gathering exercise.
Best always,
Amelia
Hello Amelia,
Thank you for your questions, here are my answers:
1. Being a certified life coach requires formal training and certification.
2. Building a clientele and a reputation takes a while in any professional field. The coaching profession is growing. There are more and more opportunities to work as a coach within an organization. I encourage you to visit an ICF chapter meeting in your city to meet a variety of coaches and learn about all the different ways in which you can earn a living as a coach besides building your own coaching business. For a list of all the local ICF chapters, visit the ICF website.
3. Most life coaches coach via the phone.
All the best with your endeavours!
Warmly,
Julia :)
Hello Julia,
I have a PhD in clinical psychology and want to expand my practice to include coaching. Do I really need to pursue training in coaching? I feel my expertise in psychology more than qualifies me to work as a life coach. And given that coaching is unregulated, the education requirement is really not required.
Your thoughts are appreciated, thank you.
Mariana
Hello Mariana,
Thank you so much for your valuable comment. I completely understand that you deem extra training in coaching unnecessary given your degree and expertise in psychology. However, I encourage you to consider that the goals and intentions for a coaching relationship greatly vary from the goals and intentions of a therapeutic relationship. Naturally the tools used in coaching also greatly vary from the tools used in therapy. Finally the nature of the relationship between therapist and client is different from the nature of the relationship between coach and client.
While pursuing my coach training and certification, I had the joy to meet several therapists in my classes who wanted to add coaching to their practice. I witnessed that they had to stop themselves frequently from using their familiar therapy approaches. The unlearning process was a big part of their learning during coach training. While it is not required for you by law to take any extra training in order to call yourself a coach, you may want to consider taking coach specific training, so that you can easily distinguish between the coach approach and the therapy approach and provide the best service in both professions.
The coaching profession is self-regulated and governed by professional associations, such as the International Coach Federation. Certification through our professional associations requires coach specific training. If you want to pursue a professional designation as a coach, you need to take coach specific training.
I hope that these thoughts will be useful for you in your decision making process.
Warmest wishes,
Julia