5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Train to be a Life Coach
As a life coach I know the pleasure you can receive for getting paid to support other people – your clients, to achieve their goals and ambitions. You may have been inspired by celebrity coaches to give up your job to train as a life coach, but before you do, you need to be aware of the reality of training to be a life coach.
This article is not designed to out you off becoming a life coach rather the article will empower you to make a better choice. As an experienced life coach I know how hard it is to make your life coaching business a success. The truth is, the coaching sector is a growth sector with more people spending their hard earn money of self-development. People are happy to pay expert coaches to help them increase their confidence and self-esteem, to make better business decisions and to achieve goals and outcomes.
There are many reason why you should set up your own coaching business but you also have to be aware of the common pitfalls some people fall into. Some coaches like the idea of getting paid to help others, but if you only want to get rich quick then maybe there is a better alternatives, as becoming a life coach takes time and commitment.
Below are 5 reasons why shouldn’t become a life coach. If you fall into any of these 5 reasons you may want to reconsider your career ideas.
1. I Want To Get Rich Quick
For me there is nothing better than getting rich by doing a job you truly love. Many coaches are self employed and are able to charge whatever rate they desire for their coaching sessions. But as with all self employed businesses, becoming a life coach won’t make you a millionaire over night.
Time is money. As with any business you have to build up a reputation as this reputation will help you stand out in a saturated market. The more you put in the more you will get out of the business in terms of job satisfaction and financial reward. Most coaches charge between £50-£300 per session. As you can see, money can be made but first you need to know the secrets of securing clients and this comes with time.
The key is to niche as being a niche coach helps you stand out. When supporting clients over deliver! – give the client more than they expected as this will increase client retention and will encourage clients to promote you to their family, friends and colleagues. Become an expert in your niche. With competition for coaches at an all time high, you need to use your expertise to standout above other life coaches. Why should a client book your service when they can book a session at the same price with an expert in their area of need?
All this takes time. It is rare to set up a coaching business and to start receiving hundreds of client bookings the same day. This can be achieved but I have saved these internet marketing secrets for “the coaching business in a box”
2. I’m a Good Communicator
Life coaching isn’t just about talking, in fact great life coaches listen more than they talk. I meet lots of great communicators and as a career coach I now the importance of matching your key skills to a job role. Communication is a required skill for a life coach, but a more desirable skill is the ability to “listen”
Two ears and one mouth. This quote is old but true, the key skill all life coaches need to learn is to listen without thinking. When I first started out as a coach, I would often listen to my own self talk as the client was communicating with me. At first I was worried that I wouldn’t know what to say or what to do next once the client had stopped talking, the self talk was my way of planning the next stage in the session. The problem here was that the self talk made it hard for me to really listen to the client. As you will learn in the 101 coaching techniques you need to be able to hear the language the clients uses (generalisations, deletions, distortions, metaphors and sensory based words) as this unconscious message gives the coach clues how to support and move the client forward.
Newbie life coaches might be tempted to give people their advice, where in reality life coaches aren’t advisors their coaches, which means you need to learn how to word your questions so the clients can find their own answers to their own problems. It is easy to distort the clients communication making it relevant to your own experience. But everyone experiences the world differently and the coach can be trained to use questions so the client can find their own solution often during a content-free session.
The key to a successful life coach is not wanting a job where you get to talk a lot, rather getting a job where you can learn to help and support others, often through minimum verbal communication.
3. I Don’t Want a Stressful Job
If you’re not fond of working with your hands you may feel a job as a life coach will be well suited to you. Friends of mine, especially those friends in the construction sector think I have an “easy” “stress-free” job. Many coaches do work from home and the job is relatively manual work free, apart from moving your laptop from room to room. The stress doesn’t come from physical work but from mental strain.
Some people believe that being a life coach is an easy job; as with all careers once you become an expert the pressure is off as you become unconsciously competent at your role. But all coaches will agree helping others can be mentally tiring, which means you need to ensure that the stress from supporting others doesn’t affect you. Bare in mind that, depending on your niche you may be told by clients about their terrible past. Some clients maybe over demanding or take the negative perspective in every situation. In niches such as couples coaching arguments may break out or when working with businesses your coaching session maybe key to a multimillion pound decision.
You need to learn to handle stressful situations and know how to leave work at work. Good coaches can when needed detach from a situation emotionally, which allows them to hear the clients words and ask the questions that will help the client move forward. If a client discloses a horrific past you need the ability not to think about their issues post session in a way that will make you stressed or depressed. Many coaches will build stress release exercises into their working week.
Think about you will handle the metal stress required when listening and communicating with clients, especially when you see several clients in one day.
4. No Overhead Cost
Setting up a life coaching business takes little financial investment. All coaches require is a website, a platform for coaching clients (face to face, telephone, webcam etc) and an investment for internet marketing (or see Coaching Business in a Box for FREE SEO techniques)
There are hidden cost, one you will need to pay for insurance, two internet marketing is a key part to a coaching business, which means you need to learn how to dominate Google and finally, good coaches will continue to develop their skills, which means paying for additional training and workshops. The website cost is a low but annual payment is required, you may use paid images or paid articles to help promote your coaching business and many coaches will pay coaching directories for an annual subscription. You maybe surprised that many networking events have a charge and a successful way to increase referrals is through Google ads which is a pay-per-click marketing scheme. All these cost add up.
The lower the investment the more marketing you have to undertake If you have no funds to invest in marketing your new business you will need to spend time growing your business organically by regular blogging for your own and other coaches websites. You will need to invest time into social media promotions and attending networking events and you may even offer to deliver free group sessions to increase your business awareness ion your niche.
From working with many coaches I know that if you have a low investment you will need to work hard to market your coaching business. Most clients will find and book a coach online (or via word of mouth) As we said in the coaching business in a box you need to market your business to your niche as this ensures that your click-through rate is high and your conversions are higher.
5. I Want To Give My Job
Many people choose life coaching as a career, because they don’t like their current job. The thought of being self-employed – your own boss is highly addictive. In many situations most coaches will need to start small, by making a part-time business. Becoming a part-time coach is beneficial financially as you will still gain a salary from your main career. As your business grows you can reduce the days in your salaried job and increase the days you coach.
The stress of being a full-time coach with no clients can be damaging. In the initial months you can concentrate on marketing your business to ensure that later your referral rate is high. Google is key to a successful coaching business and to rank high on Google you need a targeted website with lots of blog post, key words and links from other coaching websites.
Get a Salaried Coaching Job. If you want a career where you get to help and coach people you can actually get a salaried job in this sector. The benefits of this approach is that you get to fulfil your career goals while not having the stress of marketing your own business and preparing for those months when referrals are low.
If you want to be a self-employed coach you will need to spend around 50% of your time marketing your business and 50% of your time coaching clients. Marketing, even for successful coaches is an on-going part of your business plan. Once you stop marketing your business the referrals will disappear.
Having a coaching business is highly satisfying but you also have to be aware that setting up a coaching website isn’t enough. Competition in this sector is high with hundreds of new coaches entering the market every week. You need to become an expert in your niche and ensure you have a well thought out marketing strategy. In most cases you will want to start part-time and slowly build up your coaching referrals without having the stress of giving up a well paid job. Good coaches will continually develop their skills and develop their practises by attending training courses and seminars, all which come at a cost.
A good coaching business will target a specific audience and will gain referrals both by word of mouth and through organic searches.
Chris Delaney NLP Life Coach, Hypnotherapist and Career Advisor is available for booking for One to One Private Sessions, Group Training Sessions and Public Speaking Events
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Chris Delaney NLP Life Coach, Hypnotherapist and Career Advisor is available for booking for One to One Private Sessions, Group Training Sessions and Public Speaking Events
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